Infosys co-founder N.S. Raghavan became one of India’s earliest venture investors in 2000 but his company didn’t make much money. His sons, Sriram and Anand, are out to change that
On October 21, 2009, N. R. Narayana Murthy sold Rs. 174 crore worth of Infosys shares to capitalise Catamaran, his venture capital fund. If Murthy ever needs advice for this new venture, he won’t have to look too far. He just has to call the man who could have been the second CEO of Infosys but turned down the job in 1999 and quit the company in 2000. Nadathur Raghavan doesn’t even live too far away. He is right there in Bangalore.
The approach takes a longer view. “Since they can invest and stay invested over a long term, they’re building pretty much everything from scratch. It’s a good strategy but the proof can be only be seen in a couple of years,” says Gautam Nadig, one of the co-founders of Metahelix, a Nadathur group company.
(This story appears in the 20 November, 2009 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)