SoftBank Appoints Sumer Juneja as India Head SoftBank appointed a former director of Norwest and a consumer business expert as the new India head
By Bhavya Kaushal •
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Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, one of the world's largest investment group recently appointed its first India Head, Sumer Juneja, former director of Norwest Venture Partners. Juneja has been chosen to head the billion-dollar firm that has made one of its biggest investments in Indian companies such as Flipkart, Paytm, Ola and Policy Bazaar.
The Tokyo based unicorn headed by billionaire Masayoshi Son has picked the Indian Venture Capitalist to head the Indian operations of the company. According to reports, talks have been on for quite some time but it was only on Wednesday that the confirmation came forth.
Decoding the Man
Sumer Juneja is a well-known name in the investment world. A graduate from London School of Economics, he has worked with top giants like Goldman Sachs in London and Hong Kong as an investment banking analyst. He is also a founding member of the Goldman Sachs' Asian Special Situations Group in India. An expert in consumer business including technology and manufacturing, Juneja has led investment endeavours in companies like Swiggy, Quikr, National Stock Exchange, IndusInd Bank, Sadbhav Engineering, Veritas Finance, and RevX.
Views of an Investor
He is a focused man with simple yet clear logistics. Sumer Juneja was a Guest Speaker in Franchise India's flagship show, the Indian Restaurant Congress 2018.
He spoke on what investors look for while funding in the restaurant sector. "Investors are putting in money to make a good return so market evaluation, scalability and the person you are backing are some of the common things every investor looks out for," he said. He also added that one of the crucial aspects that investors see before funding in the sector is how scalable the model is.
Juneja pointed out that Investors today and over the years have developed awareness regarding which format can ensure better returns in the business. According to him, India is always going to be a low average order value market but has a very high volume.
A Frank Demeanour
Frank demeanour is how this newly appointed head can be described best. He added in the event that he believes he is not capable of running a business. "In my career, I have probably had only 5 people report to me." He also added that he gives promoters a 120-day plan wherein the roles of the investors and promoters are clearly specified. His aim and focus is crystal clear-to revise business and pull them up, doesn't matter what circumstances are surrounding it.
Juneja is known for leading various successful ventures, the biggest success story being that of Swiggy. The moderator of the event also highlighted how Juneja was sitting behind the delivery boys of Swiggy in order to have a deeper understanding of the market.
