SoftBank India has recently promoted Sarthak Misra, who previously served as an investment director, to the position of partner, according to sources familiar with the matter. The Japanese investment firm, known for its focus on technology ventures, communicated this to its portfolio companies in India on Tuesday.
Misra, who joined SoftBank in 2019 after a stint at Matrix Partners India, holds board positions in e-commerce platform Meesho, and B2B online retailer OfBusiness. He is also closely involved with food-delivery giant Swiggy, and Lenskart.
In his new role, Misra will continue to report to Sumer Juneja, who serves as the managing partner for India & EMEA at SoftBank, overseeing the fund’s operations in India and Europe.
Meanwhile, another key figure at SoftBank Investment Advisors, Narendra Rathi, who focuses on deals within the Software as a Service (SaaS) and business-to-business (B2B) sectors, will also maintain reporting lines to Juneja. “Narendra and Misra will maintain their own separate teams,” a person aware of the matter added.
Juneja has led SoftBank’s investment team in India for over five years.
Apart from Juneja, the India investment team comprises six executives. Vikas Agnihotri, who served as an operating partner at SoftBank India, exited the fund last year.
Notably, SoftBank has refrained from making new investments in India over the past year amid tightening funding conditions. However, the company has been actively divesting its stakes in publicly listed entities such as Paytm, Policybazaar, Delhivery, and Zomato. Additionally, two of SoftBank’s portfolio companies, FirstCry and Ola Electric, have submitted draft IPO papers with plans to go public this year. Swiggy, a leading food and grocery delivery platform, is also gearing up to file its draft red herring prospectus for an IPO in the same timeframe.
The Japanese investor had in January announced that it is looking to resume investments in Indian startups in 2024, after pausing bets for 18 months amid a broader funding winter.