Ratan Naval Tata, under whose wings the group’s revenue crossed the $100 billion milestone, was never one to be featured among the rich lists. Known for his philanthropy, the Tata group patriarch did build a vast estate of investments from tech startups to starting an EV company and an NBFC.
As per the Hurun India Rich List 2024, released in August 2024, Ratan Tata was ranked at 350 amongst the richest Indians with a net worth of Rs 7,900 crore.
Stake in Tata Sons
Ratan Tata owns a small direct stake of 0.83 percent in the Tata group holding company Tata Sons. Majority of his net worth is derived from this stake in Tata Sons.
Startup Investments
Since 2014, Tata has invested in at least 25 companies.
These include ride hailing platform Ola, digital payments company Paytm, furniture e-tailer Urban Ladder, eyewear retailer Lenskart, health and fitness platform CureFit, and home services provider Urban Company, among several others.
Most of these investments have been made through his personal investment vehicle RNT Associates Private Limited
RNT Associates
RNT Associates Private Limited is one of the main personal investment vehicles of Ratan Tata. He has been making his startup investments in India and abroad through this vehicle.
As per RNT Associates latest available financial statements (FY23), the company where Ratan Tata has a 100 percent ownership, had total assets of Rs 296.96 crore, comprising investments worth Rs 186 crore and cash and cash equivalents of Rs 77.88 crore.
For the purpose of the financial statements, the value of these investments has been recorded at the actual cost at the time of the investment and not the current market price of these investments.
RNT Associates recorded a revenue of Rs 36.39 crore in FY23, increasing from the revenue of Rs 17 crore in the previous year. It reported a profit of Rs 27.71 crore in FY23, as against a profit of Rs 12.47 crore in the previous fiscal.
Mehli Mistry, a close associate and confidant of Ratan Tata, is the only other director on the board of RNT Associates.
Mehli Mistry is a first cousin of late Cyrus Mistry, who was the former Chairman of Tata Sons and is also a trustee of Sir Ratan Tata Trust, Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, and Tata Education and Development Trust.
New businesses
Even after stepping down from his executive role at Tata Sons, the industrialist did not settle for the peacefulness of a retired life or dedicate all his time to philanthropy. He continued to invest his time and money not just to back ambitious startup founders but to create new companies.
Companies that he founded after handing over the reins of Tata group include Avanti Finance Private Limited and Electrodrive Powertrain Solutions Private Limited (Electra EV).
Tata founded Avanti, a microlender, in 2016 along with Nandan Nilekani, with Tata holding a 11.2 percent stake and Nilekani holding 87.0 percent stake. The founders have invested Rs 165 crore of equity in Avanti, as per a May 10 report by Crisil.
Avanti’s goal is to sustainably impact the quality of life of 100 million households of the neediest in India in the next 5-7 years. It is a technology-based platform that focuses on both individual and community-based lending. Avanti does not follow a brick-and-mortar model but uses an in-house built technological platform to disburse the loans and has 100% cashless disbursements.
Incorporated in 2017, Electra EV manufactures powertrains for electric vehicles. Electra is the sole supplier of powertrains for the Tata ACE Model and has 25-30% share in the Tata Tigor model, according to Crisil. The company had a networth of Rs 178.8 crore as on March 31, 2023. In November 2022, the company raised over $25 million from GEF Capital.
Venture capital funds
Tata was not just a prolific angel investor, he also set up a couple of investment funds in India and South East Asia.
In collaboration with the University of California, he started the UC-RNT Fund in 2016. The fund made investments in companies such as Mswipe Technologies, NestAway, Livspace Axio Biosolutions etc.
He was also part of a Singapore-based fund named SeedPlus which raised close to $18 million in 2017 with backing from Cisco Investments, the investment arm of Cisco Systems Inc., as well as Eight Roads Ventures, the proprietary investment arm of Fidelity International Ltd, as per a report by DealStreetAsia.
SeedPlus is a seed-stage venture fund launched by Jungle Ventures, a Singapore-based venture capital firm. Seedplus is backed by SGInnovate, Accel Partners (India) and Ratan Tata’s RNT Associates, among others.
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