Kalaari Capital said former Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata has signed up with the venture capital firm in an advisory role to provide guidance to its portfolio companies.Tata, who stepped down from the Tata Group chairmanship in December 2012, has made personal investments in four e-commerce companies including Snapdeal, Urban Ladder and Bluestone over the past six to eight months.The venture capital firm also picked up a small stake in Flipkart Ltd when India’s largest e-commerce company bought Myntra last May.
Kalaari was one of the early investors in Myntra.
“Valuation is a new thing to me so I’m still learning about it. What I look at while investing in start-ups is the quality and intelligence of the entrepreneurs. That is what I have based my current investments on,” Tata said.
India’s e-commerce market is expected to reach $6 billion in 2015, a 70% increase over 2014 revenue of $3.5 billion, according to technology researcher Gartner Inc. E-commerce currently represents less than 4% of the total retail market though its share is increasing rapidly.
“They (conglomerates) can only be successful if they adopt the nimble and innovation-focused approach of start-ups. Otherwise it’s going to be very difficult for them to (compete),” Tata said.
