Narayana Murthy is Venture Capitalist now – sells Infosys Shares to set up VC Fund

One of the most successful entrepreneurs in the country, Mr. N.R Narayana Murthy, co-founder of Infosys Technologies has recently sold his 0.55% stake in the company for Rs. 174.3 Crores to set up a new venture Capital (VC) Fund in the country. This news has come as big boost for the market and especially budding entrepreneurs.

In fact, the country saw over 71% drop in Venture Investments this year. Total VC Investments in the first nine months of 2009 is at $201 million against $709 million investment for the corresponding period last year. So, with more Venture Funds we can see the revival of venture investments in India soon.

In few bulk deals, Mr. NRN Murthy sold a total of 800,000 shares on this Wednesday and Thursday and proceeds of the sale (Rs. 174 Crores / $37 million) will be used as seed capital for the proposed venture capital fund in India. It is known, apart from 0.55% stake Murthy’s family also hold 4.4% stake in Infosys.

With this new Venture Fund, Mr. Murthy joins the long list of Indian technology entrepreneurs turned investors. NS Raghavan, co-founder of Infosys, now runs Nadathur Investments and early stage venture capital firm Ojas Venture Partners. Wipro man Azim Premji, also has a personal investment company called Premji Invest, which has funds of over $1 billion.

12 Comments

anthony February 13, 2010

The Center for Media Research has released a study by Vertical Response that shows just where many of these ‘Main Street’ players are going with their online dollars. The big winners: e-mail and social media. With only 3.8% of small business folks NOT planning on using e-mail marketing and with social media carrying the perception of being free (which they so rudely discover it is far from free) this should make some in the banner and search crowd a little wary.
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Nagendra January 21, 2010

Hi Manoj ,
We developed web site for resort room booking with payment gateway.
Currently we are looking VC to extend our service.
can any please on the same.
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Pingback Sudha Murthy does it again – helps Narayana Murthy in his VC Fund Catamaran | MoneyMint.in - India Business Blog November 10, 2009

[...] co-founder of Infosys technologies, offloaded part of his stake in the company few weeks back to start a new VC Fund “Catamaran”. His 800,000 shares was sold for 173 crores to kick start “Catamaran”. Now Sudha [...]
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Hemath Naveen K.S November 10, 2009

Repected Sir/Madam.
we started a business but we are not able to run that business due to large investment and various issues.so we want to know about all details about this Katamaran Investment where should we approach and also we need address,email and webite address of that company.if we get that will be helpful for us.
Thank you!
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Manoj Govindassamy November 10, 2009

May I know the reason why you are particularly looking for NRN Murthy VC Fiund “Catamaran” for your Startup ? Its fairly a new VC Fund and they might not take high risk so early.
If you are looking for any VC Funds, here are our tips:
1. First know the domain your Startup is operating in. (eg: HealthCare)
2. List out all the VCs in India who are interested or investing in your domain, that is , HealthCare.
3. Narrow down the companies that VCs you shortlisted have already invested and that will tell you about your competitors. Try to differentiate your product from others.
4. Then contacting VCs are easily part. All you need is to go to their websites and mail them your interest.
Having said that, I need your the domain in which your are looking for VC investments. If you dont like this public firum, please mail us personally http://www.moneymint.in/about.
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mohinudeen sheriff November 20, 2009

Dear Manoj,
We are a group of 4 friends in ooty,running a small unit as SRG AGROTEC.We are raising cuttings of Rosemary herb under a wooden green house using the mordern methods.We do have about 12 acres of land under lease.7 acres are with Geronium Plantations and 5 acres under Rosemary plantations.We have plans to bring large cultivations of Rosemary herb and Distill its oil which has a good market now.We do also have plans to cultivate medicinal herbs like Thyme,Sage,Oreganum,Sweet Marjirum,Lavender,Pepermint,Spiremint,Lemon grass,Citronella etc.
So i have given you my domain and its in the field of Medicinal herbs.Are there any company interested in this field and please do let me know how you can help us.
regards
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Manoj Govindassamy November 20, 2009

@Sheriff,
Seems interesting. Medicinal area is kind of niche and i am sure there will be some good VCs in this area too. I will find out Venture Funds that are interested in Medicinal domains and mail you the details in few days.
Manoj Govindassamy November 10, 2009

“Catamaran” has more funds now – http://www.moneymint.in/software/sudha-murthy-does-it-again-helps-narayana-murthy-in-his-vc-fund-catamaran
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chandramouly November 3, 2009

@shantharam shetty – go thru the wiki, you will lots of information about basics of venture capital http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venture_capital
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RAMESH November 8, 2009

greetings!!
How do i contact Capital Venture for this Opportunity.
Thanks
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ca.shantharam shetty November 2, 2009

i would like to know more about venture capital which may be more helpful to budding enterprenure
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Ramesh Vijaykumar October 30, 2009

hello sir,
you are a example for all of us.
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