Venture capital firm Playbook Partners, founded by former Jio president and startup investor Vikas Choudhury, on Tuesday, announced the first close at more than $130 million of its $250 million growth capital fund. Raised from global investors from Europe, the US, Middle East, and India, the fund will back growth-stage, tech-enabled companies in large addressable markets with healthy operating margins and high growth.
Choudhury holds investments in companies including 10 unicorns, IPOs and exits such as inMobi, Myntra, Fractal, Nazara, PolicyBazaar, Rapido, etc.
Speaking on the new fund, Vikas Choudhury said the playbook isn’t just to fund, but to forge – capital, relationships, and strategic insight – necessary for visionary companies to master the art of scale, and institutionalize their leadership position.”
Among the backers include operating partners Manish Choksi (Asian Paints), Aakash Chaudhry (Aakash Education) and Milan Sheth (Ex Automation Anywhere), who have participated through their family offices or in their personal capacity.
The fund’s senior investing team includes Dushyant Singh (Ex McKinsey & Co) and Sumit Jain (Ex Sistema Asia Capital and Kalaari Capital) while advisory board includes Naveen Tewari (inMobi), Nitish Mittersain (Nazara), Sushil Jiwarajka (Ericsson), Dileep Choksi (Ex Deloitte), and Priti Rathi Gupta (Anand Rathi Group).
Before Jio, Choudhury was the India CEO of loyalty analytics company AIMIA till 2017. Till 2023, he was also a partner at multi-family office Pivot Ventures focusing on alternative investments, according to his LinkedIn profile.
“Powered by a 5x growth in the digital economy to over $1 Trillion, India will account for over 15% of the entire global economic growth over the next decade. Our purpose is to fuel India’s aspirational growth and transformation at scale,” he said.