Juan Sabater willing to invest in Indian startups

Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 10

Having met aspiring entrepreneurs and startups in Chandigarh, Ranchi, Kolkata, Delhi and NCR, Juan Sabater, partner of Chicago-based Valor Equity Partners, is looking to invest in Indian startups in his personal capacity. Juan is looking to invest in technology changing innovations and ideas in India.

Valor Equity Partners, a private equity firm, has invested in firms such as Tesla, SpaceX, Addepar and Renovate America. Before this, Juan was the Managing Director of the Investment Banking division of Goldman Sachs.

“I am impressed by the ideas and innovations by these startups, which I met across Ranchi, Kolkata, Delhi & NCR and now in Chandigarh. They have one thing similar and that is an urge to grow. Buoyed by their spirit and their unique technology offering, I may invest in my personal capacity in Indian startups in near future, “Juan Sabater told The Tribune.

He was here to meet Nasscom member companies based out of Chandigarh. During the meeting, the companies shared insights into the work happening in that region and how the area was going through transformation with the help of technology. The member companies also briefed him about the challenges they were facing.

During his tour to India, Sabater interacted with students, government officials and entrepreneurs across different cities.

When asked about his meeting with entrepreneurs across different parts of the country, he said, “I have observed that startup movement in the country is apparent and there is robust entrepreneur culture in the country. The beauty is that they have aspirations and everybody wants to grow.”

On challenges, he said, “The startups across different cities in India are facing almost similar issues like building a team to create technology, define the market and product, getting capital and growth or scaling issues.”

He added that there should be hand holding and an ecosystem for the growth of the startups. The industry must coordinate with each other or can make a platform to find a solution to the problems they were facing, he said.