TCA Investors help
startups scale up

Manu Iyer runs Bluehill Capital, an early-stage VC fund, focusing on hardware, clean-tech, and deep-tech startups, through which capital has been deployed for 8 investments in the space to date.

He is also a Partner in Bluehill Retail, a retailing and distribution business that partners with several international and Indian electronics, lifestyle, and apparel brands.

He is a B.Tech Electrical Engr from IIT Madras and has completed his MBA from Duke University in the US. After working in Financial Services in the US, he had shifted base to India, to start off on his own.

Founded SCANET in 1994. SCANET focuses on exporting live lobster primarily to China and Hongkong , commands a market share of over 70%

Received number of awards from Ministry of Commerce, Govt Of India as the Largest Live exporter in India.

Founded SKCL in 2003 with prime focus on high quality Grade A+ office assets. SKCL has delivered over a million square feet in Chennai and has more than 72 tenants across all facilities.

SKCL also maintains these facilities through their sister concern – SKCLPMS with Zero down time for occupants. SKCL has partnered with Indospace and delivered over a million sft of warehousing space and successfully exited the same.

Involved in philanthropic activities in a small way, support dumb deaf children through Guild Of service – Chennai, Spastic children and children with learning disabilities through Vidyasagar and Balamandir respectively, education for 100 orphan children in Nellore through an organization called – Vatsalya.

Contributed 100 lacs to AP govt for construction of a degree college and refurbishment of existing schools in Nellore district.

Mehul is currently Director at Raj Petro Specialities Pvt Ltd., India, also Director at Raj Petro Specialties DMCC, Dubai, and Managing Director at Raj Petro Specialities (Europe) BV Netherlands. Over the last 18 years, he has worked across several business areas from Projects, Operations, International business development to IT/ERP projects.

Mehul has been instrumental in setting up a new manufacturing unit, managing unit operations and setting up the international business arm at Raj Petro Specialities.

He is the SBU head for International business, handling 5 product verticals, with P&L responsibility.

Mehul holds an undergraduate degree in Chemistry from the University of Madras, an MBA from the University of Manchester, UK and has completed the General Management Program (GMP) from Harvard Business School.

Mithun is the CEO Founder of CaratLane Trading Private Limited. He is also an active investor in early-stage businesses and loves a conversation over new ideas.

Mithun founded Caratlane.com, India largest Jewellery e-commerce business. Realizing the huge potential of online retail in India and using his background/experience in jewellery and diamonds, Mithun laid the blueprint for CaratLane.com.

Mithun started CaratLane.com in 2007, with the site going live in 2008. From then, it been a journey of crossing milestone after milestone. Recognizing the leadership provided in growing CaratLane, TiE felicitated Mithun with the lsquo;Next-Gen Entrepreneur of the Year rsquo;� Award in 2012.

Mithun combines jewellery expertise with a passion for jewellery technology. He has ensured that every piece produced for CaratLane.com is manufactured to perfect specifications, so when the customers lay hands on their jewellery, they get exactly what they saw online.

Few e-retailers can live up to specs like CaratLane.com. Today, Mithun oversees business strategy and direction at CaratLane.com.

Before this, he was a part of the family business Jaipur Gems and expanded the same in south India.

Mithun was formally educated at the Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics, IIM Bangalore and Gemological Institute of America, California (GIA).

Over twenty years of experience as an entrepreneur

Director of Mohamed Sathak Group of Education Institution comprising of 18 education institutions ranging from Engineering, Architecture, Arts, Science, Pharmacy, Nursing, Physiotherapy, and Schools
Founder of Openwave Computing a software services and product company having offices in 4 countries&
Founder of JustOut News App, a digital media company focusing on curated news
Co-Founder of GoWatr Pvt Ltd an aggregator of Water Tankers and Bore Wells.

Involved in family-owned Coffee Plantation in Coorg, India. Instrumental in opening up export markets establishing clients in Europe and the US
Volunteer member involved in several non-profit and charitable organization

Education Qualification:
Degree in MBA from Long Island University – New York,USA
B.Com from Loyola College,Chennai-India,
Diploma in Computer Software Programming from Informatics (Cambridge Singapore)

Founder of Cogent Innovations (P) Ltd, a product solutions company, based in Chennai with an emphasis on service and gate management software operating across continents.

Cogent has been successfully managing operations in India, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, and Africa. Cogent specialises in ATM monitoring software, with 80% of all ATM-related issues being routed through Cogent pan India, from ATMs being down and not limited to cashless ATMs, these are monitored real-time, and experienced engineers are sent with delays being monitored by the minute.

Cogent’s management software implementation for the Income Tax Department of India is our proudest, our services for the IT department include but is not limited to, refunds and related queries among others.

Cogent’s key clients include Siemens, SAP, Hitachi, ITC, CMS, City Union Bank among others. Physical security Cogent’s software, used to create visitor, material, contractor and other gate passes has been implemented by a number of large facilities across Chennai, these include DLF, Olympia Tech Park, Tata, Saint Gobain, BMW, Hyundai, and hotels like Leela and Trident make around 350 customers.

Mridula Ramesh is the founder of the Sundaram Climate Institute, which focuses on solid waste and water solutions and education.

She is an active angel investor in cleantech startups, with a portfolio of over a dozen and counting. 

A graduate with distinction from Cornell University and armed with an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, Mridula has worked at McKinsey in Silicon Valley before returning to India. 

Leveraging on her two decades of management experience, she teaches a postgraduate class on climate change at the Great Lakes Institute of Management. 

She is a regular columnist with Firstpost on climate change and has also written extensively for The Hindu. 

She is the Executive Director of Sundaram Textiles and lives and experiments in Madurai in a net zero-waste house with her husband and two children.

Mr. V. M. Muralidharan, fondly addressed as Mike, is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees at ALERT and is the Chairman of the renowned Ethiraj College for Women, Chennai.

At present, he is the Chief Operating Officer at Bahwan CyberTek Group, a USD 350 million global software products and solutions group. He also serves as a Non-Executive Director at Tekion India and as an Independent Director at Matrix Business Services.

Mike is a Charter Member at TiE Chennai, Member at The Chennai Angels and has served on the board of the Southern Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SICCI). He also serves on sub-committees at CII & FICCI.

Mike graduated with B. E. (Hons.) in ECE from the College of Engineering, Guindy in 1983 and was honoured with the Distinguished Alumnus Award by the Alumni Association College of Engineering, Guindy in 2018. He has received various other notable recognitions including the prestigious ‘Edupreneur of the Year’ award in 2015, presented by His Excellency the Governor of Tamil Nadu, in recognition of his commitment & contribution to the cause of Women’s Education in India, the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ from the Lions International, to name a few.

Murugan Narayanaswamy S completed his BE (Hons) EEE from Bits Pilani
and his PGDM – XIM at Bhubaneswar.

He has worked since 1995 in various organizations like Philips India, Britannia Industries, Danone Waters, Nerolac Paints, Jubilant Foodworks (Domino’s Pizza) and Southern Health Foods Pvt Ltd (Manna).

His work experience has predominantly been in sales and marketing, working across geographies in India and across various sectors and brands.

Murugan is interested in building brands and companies and simultaneously improving the quality of life of the community and the country, and if possible, across the globe.

Apart from being an avid marketer, Murugan is interested in movies, sports and running.

Murugavel Janakiraman is the Founder and CEO, Matrimony.com – whose flagship brand is BharatMatrimony, the No. 1 and most trusted matrimony service. The company is powered by 3000+ employees across 130 branches in 20 major cities in India. Matrimony.com is India’s first pure play Consumer Internet Company to be publicly listed.

In 1997, he pioneered the concept of online matchmaking that changed the way Indians marry.

Twice he was nominated by The Economic Times for the “Entrepreneur of the Year” award. He has been featured among Top Technology Leaders 2020 by Exchange4Media’s Impact Magazine, recognised as a “Disruptor” in the Technology domain by Your Story besides awarded Digital Entrepreneur of the Year by WAT. He was also Chairman of the IAMAI (Internet and Mobile Association of India).

He’s a speaker at major summits including those hosted by Harvard School of Business, India Today, Business World, IAMAI, CII, TiE, Stanford India and FICCI.

He looks at the matrimony service as a way to build a strong Bharat. “The future of a country depends on its Citizens. Good Citizens emerge from Good Parenting. Good Parenting happens in a Happy Marriage. And, we are the Gateway to Happy Marriages” underlines the purpose of Matrimony.com

Muthiah Murugappan completed his schooling at Sishya School and went on to finish his B.Sc. in Management Sciences from the University of Warwick (Warwick Business School). He then completed his MBA at London Business School.

Muthiah Murugappan has been with EID Parry (India) Ltd. Since Sep 2015, as the Head of Strategy & Nutraceuticals. He heads EID Parry’s Nutraceutical portfolio which comprises – Parry Nutraceuticals, Algavista Greentech (Chennai,India), Valensa International (Eustis, Florida,USA), AlimtecSA (La Serena ,Chile).

Muthiah is also Strategy Head for the company, covering all of its verticals – Sugar, Biofuels & Nutraceuticals.

He has been an Angel Investor since Jan 2010 and has worked with startups and Micro VC funds in the areas of SaaS, Ecommerce, Deep Tech & Consumer goods.

He started his career in August 2004 with Indian FMCG major – CavinKare Pvt Ltd. He initially served as an Area Sales Manager in the Western and Southern regions and has worked in the states of Maharashtra, MP, Chattisgarh and AP. Muthiah subsequently moved into a Brand Management role and served as a Product Manager for the International Business Unit, covering the GCC and ASEAN regions.

In July 2007, he joined Carborundum Universal (CUMI) as an Exports Manager. CUMI is an integral part of his family’s business conglomerate – The Murugappa Group, of which he is a fifth-generation member. He subsequently moved to the US to handle CUMI’s trading operations in North America and in 2010 returned to India to head its Wear Ceramics business where he served till July 2013.

He then decided to take a sabbatical to pursue a Full Time MBA at the London Business School starting fall 2013. In 2015, he returned to The Murugappa Group to head the Nutraceuticals Business of Group flagship – EID Parry India Ltd. In addition to The Nutraceuticals Vertical he also heads Strategy for the Company.

He enjoys keeping fit with Tennis and Yoga, and enjoys travelling and listening to music.

His wife is an Architect and has her own firm in Chennai. They’ve been blessed with a son.

• MBA from a premier Management Institute at Calcutta. (IIMC)
• Born in Calcutta, College in Bombay, worked in Delhi and Chennai.
• Professional.
• Coca Cola Export Corporation, New Delhi. (Employee)
• Nestle Products India Ltd, New Delhi. (Employee)
• Rediffusion Advertising, Chennai. (Employee)

Gum India Ltd, Chennai (Confectionery) (Promotor)

In its time, the company was the market leader in the gum business with a national share of over 60%. The company eventually wound up.

Indian Food Fermentations Ltd.(Processed foods). 

As the main promoter and Chief Executive this listed company was to franchise the Masala Dosa through automatic dispensing machines from 1992 to 2000. 

Over 250 franchises were set up in Bombay city alone. Investors exited profitably subsequent to the public issue. The company is no longer in operation.

Nett10 digital Ltd (Promotor)

A consultancy organization focused on the IT industry and the FMCG industry. 2000 till date.nett10’s primary focus is to bring IT products to the Indian marketplace.

2020 media (Promotor)

A leading public relations firm focused on the technology industry. 

The company has been acquired by the Publicis groupe.

Kaati Zone (Promotor)

Exited profitably, purchased out by a partner.

Nett10 advisors LLP 

A micro venture capital advisory firm.