Jaithirth (Jerry) Rao is stepping up his venture capital profile. Rao has been appointed as a Venture Advisor to the US-based venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates, which manages a multi-billion dollar portfolio.
Founded in 1978, NEA has about $8.5 billion in committed capital across 550 companies.
Jerry Rao has been carefully building up a string of investments through the angel investor route ever since he sold a majority stake in MphasiS to EDS for around $350 million. Rao is understood to have invested in atleast 20 companies in India ranging from wine firms to legal process outsourcing.
According to a statement from NEA, Jerry Rao and Amit Sharma have joined NEA India to expand its scope of operations.
"Both Rao and Sharma bring substantial operational expertise and a long history of successful entrepreneurship to NEA India for supporting the growing portfolio of India-based technology companies within NEA's affiliated funds," the statement noted.
NEA India has invested in companies, including Sasken, ISGN Technologies and Novatium.
Amit Sharma serves as Executive Vice President and President, Asia, for American Tower Corporation. Previously, Sharma was with Motorola, where he led teams in India and Southeast Asia in various roles, including country president, India and Head of Strategy, Asia-Pacific.
Jerry Rao is an active member of Indian Angel Network, a mentoring and angel investing networking group in India modelled on the lines of Band of Angels in the Silicon Valley, US.
NEA is also a significant investor in another India-focussed $180 million venture capital fund called NEA-IndoUS Ventures. This fund is led by Vinod Dham, who was part of the team which first developed the Pentium processor at Intel.
"In bringing Jerry and Amit on board, NEA has further demonstrated its commitment to financing and building thriving companies in India," said Ben Mathias, vice president, New Enterprise Associates (India).
"Jerry's long history of successful entrepreneurship in the consumer finance and business process outsourcing sectors will make him a highly valued advisor to companies in the portfolios of NEA's affiliated funds.
Similarly, we are very excited about the tremendous wealth of experience
Amit brings, particularly in the telecom sector here in India, and will look to him as a key advisor in this and related areas."
In addition to his role at NEA India, Rao is on the boards of Puravankara Projects, IDFC Private Equity, Royal Orchids Hotels and Lotus India Asset Management Company.