Keeping that in mind, it became a close fight as most of the nominees this year have seen one of their portfolio firms go public over the past year to break the pattern in a largely exit-starved ecosystem.
The jury finally
zeroed down on Accel’s partner Shekhar Kirani as the winner for being the first cheque writer in Freshworks, the Indian SaaS posterchild which went public on Nasdaq last year, and for having spotted a bunch of other high-quality enterprise firms early on. In a close contest was Sequoia Capital’s Mohit Bhatnagar who had impressive wins over the years with Zomato, Oyo and Citrus Pay, among others.
“I think the criteria is clear, it has to be the best exit…,” said a jury member.
Kirani has been one of the earliest and the biggest proponents of India’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) story from days when not many venture investors were bullish on the sector. His $1 million cheque in 2011 into Freshworks is widely known especially after the company went public last year. Freshworks IPO heralded a new-era for Indian SaaS startups looking to list in the US and fortified Kirani and Accel’s position as a leading SaaS-focussed VC.
“It feels great to be nominated with India’s top four excellent investors … As you all know, it takes several investors working with the founders to help them succeed over a very long period. I am humbled to be chosen, but, to be fair, this win is for all of us who have been nominated and the entire investment community,” said Kirani.
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Today, Kirani has backed the biggest names in Indian SaaS which are building for global markets, including the likes of Chargebee, Amagi, Zenoti, FalconX and Browserstack.
“The Midas touch award is especially significant because it is the recognition of the work done by an investor over a decade or more because that is how long typically early stage investment takes from the first cheque to the exit. While part of the assessment criteria is quantitative there are a number of qualitative factors that are taken into consideration,” said jury member Sanjeev Bikhchandani, cofounder, info Edge, and winner of the Midas Touch award for Best Investor in 2021 for his early bet on Zomato and PolicyBazaar.
Jury member Shailendra Singh, MD, Sequoia India and Southeast Asia, recused himself from the discussion and voting, on account of his partner Bhatnagar being nominated. Girish Mathrubootham, founder & CEO, Freshworks, did not participate as Kirani is an investor in his company, while Sahil Barua, cofounder & CEO, Delhivery also recused from voting as another nominee, Suvir Sujan of Nexus Venture Partners, is an early backer of the logistics firm.
Other Contenders
Vikram Vaidyanathan
ETtech
Vaidyanathan has spent over a decade at early-stage investment firm Matrix Partners India. Over the last two years, his early investments have paid off, with portfolio firms OfBusiness, Razorpay and Dailyhunt entering India’s coveted unicorn club. These firms have topped valuations of over $5 billion.
Mohit Bhatnagar
ETtech
For almost 17 years, Bhatnagar has been at the forefront of building Sequoia Capital in India. Last year, two of his bets, Zomato and Freshworks, went public. His other major exits include a partial secondary sale of Sequoia’s stake in hospitality unicorn Oyo, Citrus Pay’s $130 million cash acquisition by PayU, and Ujjivan’s public listing.
Suvir Sujan
ETtech
Sujan cofounded Nexus Venture Partners in 2006 after selling online marketplace Baazee.com to eBay. The experienced investor has made a strong comeback in his portfolio, recording mega exits through Pubmatic and Delhivery, which went public. Nexus’ $36 million investment in Delhivery has a value of $500 million, post IPO.
Akshay Tanna
ETtech
Tanna, a TPG veteran, has made the PE major one of the strongest backers of the Indian unicorn story with investments in Lenskart, FirstCry, Dream11 and Livspace. Tanna had a big win when Nykaa, in which TPG had invested $28 million in 2019, listed in November 2021 with a $13 billion valuation.
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