Early-stage venture capital (VC) firm Unitus Ventures, on December 6, said it has on boarded ITC veteran Sanjiv Rangrass as a venture partner. The company said Rangrass will lead its investment strategy in the climate sector for the next fund that will be launched in early 2023. This comes at a time when investor interest in climate tech start-ups is growing rapidly
Rangrass spent 40 years at ITC, where he joined as a trainee and became the chief executive officer (CEO) of the company’s agri-business unit before retiring as its group head for research and development, sustainability and projects in June this year.
He is also an active investor and mentor, with an envious track record of making investments in unicorns such as Zetwerk, OfBusiness, and BlackBuck. Recently, Zetwerk inducted Rangrass on their board as an independent director.
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“The world today stares at an 8 billion population where climate change is arguably the most important existential challenge it faces. These are early days and the sector has massive potential for innovative new companies to emerge, which will create millions of jobs and investor value while addressing the challenge at scale. I am looking forward to working with the team to establish Unitus as the leading climate investor in India” said Rangrass.
He has made investments in various agritech start-ups like Vegrow, Absolute Foods, Krishify, Farmart, Loopworm, and AgNext, to name a few. Rangrass also has climate-focused companies like Metastable Materials and Wastelink, in his investment portfolio.
“Rangy’s (as Sanjiv is fondly called) extensive experience in agritech and sustainability will form the anchor for our investment strategy in the Climate sector for our next Fund,” said Surya Mantha, managing partner, Unitus Ventures.
The VC firm said Raj Nooyi has also joined as Venture Advisor. Nooyi is a former executive of companies such as Hewlett Packard, PRTM, Tata Consultancy Services, and IBM where he led the design, development, and implementation of solutions to improve supply chains, accelerate product innovation, and effect organizational change at a global level, the VC firm said.
“'Built in India, for the World' is becoming the mantra in several sectors, the most notable of which is SaaS (Software as a Service). A deep pool of technical talent coupled with a large and demanding domestic market has prepared Indian entrepreneurs and start-ups to compete with the very best companies globally. I am excited about helping Unitus' portfolio companies achieve international scale and success,” said Nooyi.
The company said Nooyi has also remained committed to social justice and international development and has been associated with non-profit organisations including Plan International where he served as the interim CEO.
“Raj brings deep global operating experience which will help our portfolio companies in their international expansion efforts,” said Unitus’s Mantha.
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