THE EVOLUTION OF ATHERA

IDENTIFYING OPPORTUNITIES IN ADVANCE HAS STOOD THIS BENGALURU-BASED VC FUND IN GOOD STEAD. NOW, WITH A HEIGHTENED FOCUS ON TECHNOLOGY, IT WANTS TO SUSTAIN THE SUCCESS

- KRISHNA GOPALAN

THE JOURNEY

1 Launched in 2008 as Inventus India, Athera Venture Partners has deployed about ₹1,200 crore so far

2 The firm believes in identifying opportunities early, and its team engages with the early-stage ecosystem

3 Athera lays a strong emphasis on technology and novel solutions that a company can bring

4 Among its successes are firms like PB Fintech, where it saw returns of 21.3x, and redBus (12.4x returns)

5 The exits are through public listings, as in the case of PB Fintech; and M&As, like with the sale of redBus The firm invests across a host of sectors, the primary requirement being a tech-first approach

VENTURE CAPITAL FIRM Athera Venture Partners’ office is tucked away in a small lane in Bengaluru’s Domlur area. It is housed in a modest building, and the set-up is spartan, a sharp contrast to the VC landscape, where firms are generally known to be more ostentatious.

In many ways, the set-up is emblematic of Athera’s functional approach of focussing its attention on picking the right companies to invest in, something it prides itself on, and paying as little heed to other things as possible.

In the large, austere conference room, which just has some wood panelling, the firm’s four General Partners gather for a freewheeling chat. Soft-spoken Samir Kumar, 62, his tone firm, speaks of how he and his colleagues—General Partners Parag Dhol (56), Rutvik Doshi (48), and Rajiv Mehta (46)—look at a business plan. “Of course, over time, that process has been fine-tuned, but at the core, we look at a 10x return.” That is ambitious on any given day, but it’s something that Athera, which translates to journey in Sanskrit, has gotten better at.