Catamaran aims to double AUM, eyes larger deals

Catamaran, the family office of Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy, is targeting 15 per cent returns on its portfolio investments annually as it shifts focus from early-stage investments to growth and late-stage bets. This would double the firm's assets under management (AUM) from $1 billion to $2 billion over the next five years.

- ARYAMAN GUPTA

"For direct investments, we are focusing on growth-stage investments and very selectively on early stage," Deepak Padaki (pictured), president, Catamaran, told Business Standard.

"(This is) primarily because the early-stage space in India, in the last three-four years, has completely changed. There has been a huge influx of capital in the last two years. It has become a very crowded space for early-stage investment," he said.

Padaki, who has been with Infosys for over 30 years, was appointed Catamaran's president in 2022. The Bengaluru-based firm has a team of 15.

"We are targeting all the asset classes, be it private or public markets. The focus right now in the private sector is to identify opportunities in the manufacturing realm," he added.

Amid an ongoing government push for manufacturing and increased investor interest in deeptech, the investment firm is betting big on these sectors to achieve its growth targets.

"Traditionally, manufacturing is not a sector that has seen much VC (venture capital) interest due to the long-gestation periods," said Padaki.

He added, "We must build the manufacturing ecosystem. Like IT services was one big wave in the past, the next big wave in India should come from manufacturing. An investment firm like us can better support that vision."