Here is How Cyrus Mistry is Planning to Support the Startup Ecosystem The new venture will focus on providing mentorship and infusing unique capability sets to help start-ups craft the appropriate business experiments
By Vanita D'souza •
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Cyrus Mistry is back in news with his new venture capital firm – Mistry Ventures LLP to invest, incubate and advise both Indian and international startups.
"The intent to deliver profit with positive social impact will be embedded in each of the ventures we promote or partner with," said Mistry said in an official statement while adding that, "Mistry Ventures will do more than just invest in companies. By interpreting some of the major global and local trends and understanding their impact on industries and companies, we will incubate new businesses, forge partnerships and make investments across sectors."
The new venture 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.
The Right Move?
Along with Mistry, the VC firm is also promoted by his elder brother Shapoor Mistry. The brothers are also the promoters of business conglomerate Shapoorji Pallonji Group (SP Group). The enterprise has a presence over 60 countries and is operating Engineering & Construction, Infrastructure, Real Estate, Water, Energy and Financial Services sectors.
Together, according to news reports, the brothers are fourth richest Indians – making Mistry Venture one of the cash-rich VC firm.
Additionally, the Mistry brothers have called in Ashish Iyer, Senior Partner and former Global Leader, Strategy Practice at the Boston Consulting Group, to lead the VC firm.
Discussing the move, Mistry added that, "Iyer has worked with companies across sectors globally and brings deep expertise across domains and capabilities such as strategy, go-to-market, digital and innovation among others and I am very excited to have him on board."
The Timing
Interestingly, the announcement came in on the second anniversary of dismissal from the Tata Group following a boardroom coup on October 24, 2016.
Mistry was appointed as the Chairman of Tata Sons in 2012. However, in October 2016, during a meeting, the board voted out Mistry from the position of Chairmanship.
Following the incident, on December 20, 2016, Mistry via his family-run firm Cyrus Investments moved to the Mumbai Bench of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) against Tata Sons and others accusing them of oppression and mismanagement.
However, earlier this year in July, NCLT dismissed Mistry's petition and announced a ruling in favour of Tata Sons. Following which Mistry moved the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) in New Delhi challenging the ruling. The case is yet to be heard.
