Cyrus Mistry on Wednesday announced the formation of Mistry Ventures, which will provide strategic insights and advice to businesses, incubate new ventures and provide seed, early stage and growth capital to start-ups in India and globally. Ashish Iyer, senior partner and previously global leader (strategy practice) at the Boston Consulting Group, will be leading the firm, a statement said.
Commenting on the new venture, former chairman of Tata Sons, Mistry said, “The intent to deliver profit with positive social impact will be embedded in each of the ventures we promote or partner with.” He added that by interpreting major global and local trends and understanding their impact on industries and companies, Mistry Ventures will incubate new businesses, forge partnerships and make investments across sectors.
“Mistry Ventures will focus on providing mentorship and infusing unique capability sets to help start-ups craft the appropriate business experiments needed to validate, scale and bring products and services faster to market”, he said. Mistry Ventures is jointly promoted by Shapoor Mistry and Cyrus Mistry, the promoters of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, operating in the engineering and construction, infrastructure, real estate, water, energy and financial services sectors with a presence in over 60 countries, globally.
The date of the announcement of the venture coincides with Cyrus Mistry’s ouster as chairman of Tata Sons two years ago. On October 24, 2016, Mistry was removed as the Tata Sons chairman and subsequently removed as director/chairman of all the group firms. This was followed by a long and bitter legal battle between Mistry and the Tatas, which the Mistry faction lost in NCLT, Mumbai. The case is now being heard in NCLAT, in New Delhi.