Sequoia India sees top level churning

MUMBAI: Pioneering Indian venture capitalists KP Balaraj and Sumir Chadha, along with the two other managing directors, are leaving Sequoia Capital India. Their exit-including that of Sandeep Singhal and SK Jain-from the top management of the pedigree American fund shook up the venture capital and private equity industry on Monday.
TOI spoke to the exiting top brass at Sequoia who confirmed the development.All the four would come together to resurrect WestBridge Capital Partners, which was the first marquee venture capital brand out of India 10 years ago. Balaraj and Chadha had merged Bangalore-based WestBridge with Sequoia Capital five years ago, setting the stage for the latter's growth capital investments in India, managing $1.8 billion across 50 deals.
Sequoia had emerged as one of the most prolific investor behind several high growth Indian businesses and entrepreneurs in recent years. Some of its prominent investments include companies like Idea Cellular, eClerx, Edelweiss, FirstSource, SKS Micofinance, Cafe Coffee Day and TutorVista.
The four are taking with them around 35 portfolio investments-firms that are listed on bourses or those looking at an initial public offer (IPO) in the near future-back to the WestBridge Capital fold. The new look WestBridge Capital will essentially be a public market-focused fund. Some of WestBridge Capital's portfolio firms like JustDial and Vasan Eye Care are preparing for an IPO. Several Sequoia-invested Indian firms-marketRX, TutorVista and Pangea3-have been acquired by listed global companies such as Cognizant, Pearson and Thomson Reuters.
The exiting honchos said their parting of ways was amicable and the entire process evolved over the last six months even as swirling speculation pointed to differences with the global leadership of Sequoia. The industry peers, who were surprised at the development, wondered whether there were any differences regarding the India investment strategy of Sequoia going forward.
Sequoia's remaining leadership team, including Mohit Bhatnagar, Abhay Pandey, GV Ravishankar and Shailendra Singh, will continue to make growth capital investments in India, and also retain a part of their existing portfolio.