TCA Investors help
startups scale up

Jivesh Goenka is a third-generation entrepreneur with roots in Chennai. He is a Director of the 3F Group and the Managing Director of 3F Singapore. The joint family business, 3F Group, was established in 1960 to be a catalyst for the promotion of industry and social progress in rural India.

Over 5 decades, the 3F Group has been instrumental in spreading its vision across continents by doing business that generates economic value, contributes to a healthy ecosystem, and builds strong communities.

He was absorbed into the family business after completing his Bachelor of Corporate Secretaryship. His professional journey began in 1996 as a timekeeper at the industrial hub of the 3F group (solvent plants, refinery, and specialty fat manufacturing) at the Tadepalligudem factory, Andhra Pradesh, India.

During his 5 years there, he set up shore terminals for the group in Kakinada, Nagapattinam, and Gopalpur ports. He also became the youngest nominee advisor to the customs office in Kakinada port.

In 2002, after gaining considerable local expertise, Jivesh ventured into Africa and established Ghana as the first base for international operations. Today, he manages the global operations of the 3F group, which includes manufacturing in Ghana and Nigeria, trading commodities and consumer products in and out of 8 West African countries, and SEA countries like Vietnam and Indonesia.

He has ensured that the core value of creating economic value through ethical business practices and community ownership has been preserved across global operations.

He has been on the board of Young Entrepreneurs Organization, Chennai Chapter, for 6 years during his 11-year association. An invested entrepreneur, he runs 78 Design, a creative design firm. He enjoys playing cricket, badminton, and tennis.

As a third-generation entrepreneur, he has witnessed the risk-averse, tight-fisted financial control of previous entrepreneurs. A dreamer himself, he loves the possibilities that today hold a dream with a voice that finds a tribe that believes, supports, and brings it to life. Jivesh looks forward to investing and mentoring new entrepreneurial journeys.

G. Karthikeyan, a Chartered Accountant & Cost Accountant by qualification, is the founder of Karthikeyan & Jayaram Chartered Accountants. He is the Founder of G.K. Management Services India Limited (GKM).

He was also a co-opted member of the Task Force Committee of the Southern India Regional Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. 

He is a co-opted member of the International Taxation Committee of ICAI New Delhi for the year 2017-18.

Karthi is socially active on various fronts as Past President of Rotary Club of Coimbatore, Past President of Coimbatore Indcity Junior Chamber, Past Tabler of Coimbatore Metropolitan Round Table 62, Vice President of Coimbatore District Fencing Association, Current president TiE Coimbatore, etc.

Karthikeyan is a second-generation entrepreneur who has a rich experience in governing and growing businesses. 

He is a result-oriented individual with a demonstrated history of working in the appliances and packaging industry. 

His analytical capability to deliver timely and desired results even in the most challenging situations coupled with excellent leadership and motivational skills has helped organizations to write their success story.

Besides work, Karthikeyan enjoys interacting with people, watching movies across genres, and driving.

Brief about Business/Work Experience:

Butterfly Gandhimathi Appliances is one of the most reputed and leading names in the Kitchen Appliances Industry in India, under the brand name of Butterfly. 

With a strong foothold in the Southern Part of India and a PAN India presence, Butterfly now has 400+products in 14 different categories with close to 2000 employees who are part of this growing organization.

Butterfly Gandhimathi is a family-run business, where Karthikeyan has been working for the past 25 years. 

Karthikeyan’s significant contribution in areas such as Strategy Framework, Business Processes, Marketing, and Logistics has played a major role in the growth of the organization.

Kayar Raghavan mentors Startups on due diligence, strategy, value accretion, fundraise, shareholder agreements and investor relations. 

A serial angel investor in UK, India & USA and a former director on several boards and a charity, Raghavan is known for exhibiting great temperament and judgment in challenging situations. 

A Financial Times qualified Non-Executive Director, Raghavan also places emphasis on Risk Management & Governance in his roles as Advisor and Non- Executive Director.

Raghavan’s current portfolio of about 40 angel investments includes startups in domains across medical devices, data science/AI, crowdfunding platform, telecomm services, lending, eCommerce, marketplace, education, big data and fintech among others.

In his earlier avatar, Raghavan was a senior global banker with Citibank. His rich international experience, across continents, of 40+ years spans Banking business, operations and technology.

Raghavan also advised multinational CEOs and performed due diligence for a multi-billion dollar private equity deal for TPG in his advisory and consultancy role in the later years of his formal career.

Raghavan takes pleasure in occasional freelancing in political and financial journalism and investing.

His interests include, in addition to the Startup world, politics, economics, finance and speaking at seminars and conferences.

A graduate of Loyola College, Madras, India, Raghavan also did a Masters course in Management, sponsored by his then employer, Citibank, at George Washington University, USA. Raghavan speaks several Indian languages and a dash of French.

Krishna Ramanathan is an experienced angel fund investor with decades of experience and currently the Founder-Partner of Fulcrum Venture India.  Mr. Krishna in his investments believes in a shared entrepreneurial spirit, a trustworthy partnership, operational freedom, and equitable stakes.

Krishna holds an MBA from the Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneswar and turned angel investor soon after his graduation. Over the past decade, he has successfully invested and scaled in diverse start-up businesses including Real Estate, Niche Retail, Pharmaceutical, and Information Technology. 

Mr. Krishna’s lucrative current portfolio of investments include Casa Grande Pvt Ltd, Curatio Healthcare, The Four Fountains Spa, Swaas Systems, and Nutri Synapzz Therapeutix Pvt. Ltd. (a company focused on nutritional formulations incorporated in 2012)

Krishna’s family successfully promoted ‘American Remedies’ and sold it to Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd in 1999. 

Fulcrum Venture India was established in 2000 with ‘Fulcrum Venture India Fund I’ and INR 12.9 crore proprietary capital; which currently holds a NAV of INR 95 Crore (Grant Thornton valuation) for the year ended March 2012.

Krishna successfully exited Casa Grande in the year 11-12 at an IRR of 54%. Using the proceeds from the sale of Casa Grande, Krishna has launched a second fund ‘Fulcrum Venture India Fund II’ with a target size of INR 75 crore in 2012-13. 

Krishna has pledged a personal commitment of Rs. 26 crores towards Fund II. Fulcrum venture India Fund II is a SEBI registered fund, under Category II of the AIF guidelines. So far 3 deals have been completed, Richfeel Hair and Scalp Clinic, and Congruent Solutions Pvt Ltd, and Shield healthcare Pvt ltd.

Krishna, through Fulcrum Venture India, is always on the lookout for healthy deal pipelines that enable budding entrepreneurs to realize their full potential creating a mutually beneficial platform for promoters and investors alike.

Kritik Abiram Govindan is a result-driven, self-motivated and resourceful Director with a proven ability to develop and strengthen management teams to maximize company profitability and efficiency. He is experienced in leading and growing all sectors of business to make it a dynamic and progressive organization.

He reorganized the Technical Services team to improve service levels and expand career opportunities. He has transformed the Applications team to properly align skills with ongoing duties.

Kritik has more than 22 years of IT experience in the BFSI Sector.  He has worked for more than 5 years in the U.S.A. for Farmers Insurance Group as an Independent Consultant.

Kritik managed medium to big sized projects consisting of 100 -140 software engineers. Apart from Anjanasoft India, Kritik serves as a Chief Operating Officer in Anjanasoft Inc, Director in Vishwak Solutions Pvt. Ltd., India, and Director in KAG Homes Pvt. Ltd.

He recently joined as a charter member in TiE, Chennai. Kritik has a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering from the University of Madras. He is married and the couple has two lovely boys.

N Kumar is the Vice Chairman of The Sanmar Group, a fourth-generation family-owned business conglomerate. The Group is a multinational US $ 1 billion conglomerate headquartered in Chennai, India and has manufacturing facilities in India, the US, Mexico, and Egypt. 

It is engaged in three key business sectors – Chemicals (including Speciality Chemicals), Engineering (Products and Steel Castings) and Shipping.

N Kumar is the Honorary Consul General of Greece in Chennai.

N Kumar is on the Board of various public companies and carries with him vast experience in the spheres of Technology, Management and Finance.

As a spokesman of Industry and Trade, N Kumar had been a President of CII and participated in other apex bodies. He presently chairs the CII Institute of Quality, Bangalore.

N Kumar has a wide range of public interests going beyond the confines of corporate management in areas of health, social welfare, education and sports. One special area where he is involved in the Madhuram Narayanan Centre for Exceptional Children.

An Electronics Engineering Graduate from Anna University, Chennai, Kumar, is an avid golfer and a patron of cricket and tennis. He has extensively travelled across the globe.

Strategic Planning, General Management, Global Sourcing

A passionate leader, Entrepreneurial by nature, Mr. Kunal Mutha comes from an extensive background in the well-known Mohan Mutha Group, a family run business house.

He began his career in Mohan Mutha Exports as an Executive Exports. Years later he resumed himself as a Director and CEO of Mohan Mutha Polytech Pvt. Ltd in the year 2010.

Through his efforts, he has established Mohan Mutha Polytech, a state-of-the-art facility that provides a one-stop facility for premium flexible packaging. In the near future, the company has plans to venture into the manufacturing of Polymer products used in the Automobile, Aerospace, and Consumer industries.

Mr. Lakshmi Narayanan is a technology industry professional, with over 30 years of experience in Europe, India, and the United States. Lakshmi’s leadership experience includes corporate governance, customer relationship management, and organization strategy.

As a founding member of Cognizant, Lakshmi has been responsible for providing leadership for the company’s high-touch customer relationship and delivery excellence model. In his role as the Vice Chairman of Cognizant, Lakshmi guides strategic programs around customer advocacy, education, training, and leadership development.

He is the past chairman of NASSCOM and was a member of the Board of U.S. India Business Council. Lakshmi has received awards and recognition from the industry, media, and academia. He is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Science and has pursuits in inclusive growth, education, and non-profits through Cognizant Foundation and other institutions.

Madanlal Gundecha is an entrepreneur.  His family business comprises Manufacture and Exports (to the U.S. and Europe) of Garments, Commercial Vehicles, Hire Purchase Finance, I.T.Services, and Realty. His sons are with him in these businesses. 

As an Angel Investor, he has invested in a few startups with verticals viz. cognitive skills, health care, etc.

After graduating in Commerce from A.M.Jain College, he pursued  Chartered accountancy and got CA from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

He has headed South India Hire Purchase Association, Madras Hire Purchase Association. 

He has been an executive committee member of the Federation of Indian HP Associations, Vice-President -Southern India Rajasthani Chamber of Commerce and Industry. 

Presently he is associated with ASSOCHAM, Tamil Nadu Chapter for Banking & Finance.

He is a longstanding committee member of the S.S.Jain Educational Society, which runs two colleges and four schools. Past corspdt. B.S.Mootha Girls Senior Sec. School,  run by Rajasthani Jain samaj Mambalam. 

He is the Past President – Chennai Foodbank.

His hobbies are listening to  Hindi & Tamil music, reading religious & intellectual books, fellowship and travel.

Mahalingam K (Mali) is a Partner / Director at TSM Group of companies and a member of The Chennai Angels.

A Chemical Engineer from REC Trichy and an MBA from IIM Calcutta, Mali joined the family business in January 1988. TSM then was a single location car dealership in Chennai, employing around 10 people and selling around 75 pre-owned cars per month. TSM & Sons today is one of the largest pre-owned car dealerships in South India and currently sells around 5000 cars a year across locations.

On joining the business, Mali immediately started diversifying by partnering with Citibank to pioneer 3rd party distribution of financial products in India. This business entity over the last 24 years has transformed itself into a large ‘Financial Super Store’ which represents all leading Banks/Financial Institutions Industry.

TSM Group entered the real estate development business in 2003, operating under the brand Shreyas Investments. It focuses on land, residential and commercial development. TSM has completed over 100 projects in Chennai to date.

TSM also offers real estate advisory services under the brand ‘Qualitas’.

Qualitas counts amongst its client’s MNCs, large corporates, and leading developers in Chennai.

Mali is also a stakeholder and Chairman of M/s. Enzotech Solutions Pvt. Ltd, the pioneers in the field of wastewater treatment plants.

With his professional qualification, varied business interests, and hands-on experience in building successful businesses, Mali continues to be passionate about exploring new business models.

Manoj Jain, 54, is the Managing Director of Shriram Life Insurance Co. Ltd, Hyderabad. During his stint as CEO from (2012-2015) at Shriram Life, he transformed the company pan India with a consistent growth of 20% CAGR against an industry growth of 10%.

Manoj is now Managing Director of the company and responsible for setting up distribution & Business development.

Manoj has over 31 years of rich and varied experience in the financial services domain & has over 20 years in the life insurance industry. 

He has completed his MBA (Marketing) and Bachelor of Science in Mathematics.

In his earlier stint with Shriram Group as Managing Director of Shriram Fortune Solutions Ltd, Manoj has built a formidable financial service distribution company & has successfully brought a strategic foreign investor “Leapfrog investment” and placed 14% equity on a rich market valuation. 

Prior to joining the Shriram Group, Manoj has worked with HDFC Standard Life Insurance as Founder Member (2001-2007), Tata Motor Finance Ltd. (1994-2000), and 20th Century Finance Corporation (1990-1993) an NBFC, which later converted into Centurion Bank (later merged with HDFC Bank Ltd) among others.

Manoj was a partner in a Dubai Based LLC, M/s Shriram Marketing & Finance Co ltd, Dubai, in the business of offering loans & saving products to Non-resident Indians in Dubai & GCC Countries.