Japanese investment giant SoftBank has appointed Norwest Venture Partners‘ Sumer Juneja, to head its investment in India, as its new Country Head for India, according to reports.
Juneja has been at Norwest Venture Partners since 2009, as Director, he advises on growth equity investments in Indian companies across sectors like telecom, technology, financial services, infrastructure and manufacturing.
As part of Norwest Venture Partners, Juneja first led an investment in the food delivery giant Swiggy in 2015 and serves on its board as an observer.
Juneja has been actively involved in Norwest Venture Partners’ investment in companies like Quikr, Bharti Infratel, IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd., IL&FS Transportation Networks Ltd. (ITNL), Cremica and OnMobile.
Prior to joining Norwest, Juneja was a founding member of the Goldman Sachs’ Asian Special Situations Group in India, a balance sheet investing group with over $4 billion under management.
With over $8 billion invested in the Indian startup ecosystem, India is among the top markets for SoftBank. It has been making investments across sectors like vertical commerce, logistics, and food technology, as it continues to increase its exposure in the country.
SoftBank has a separate team in India headed by former Bharti Airtel Chief Executive Manoj Kohli for renewable energy unit SB Energy, a three-way joint venture with Foxconn and the Bharti Group.
Earlier in September this year, SoftBank invested around ₹7,285 crore ($1 billion) in the Indian hotel chain OYO, along with other investors, to help it boost global expansion and strengthen leadership.
Other major SoftBank investments in India include cab aggregator Ola, digital payments startup Paytm, and online grocery startup Grofers, among many others.
Earlier this year, SoftBank exited India’s leading e-commerce giant Flipkart, generating over $4 billion in returns.
Check out the list of top 10 SoftBank investments in India.