The venture debt firm has invested more than US$240 million in 120 startups across India and Southeast Asia, including Byju’s, 123RF, RedDoorz, Fave, and Guavapass

InnoVen Capital, a leading venture debt platform in Southeast Asia and India, today announced that it has appointed Ashish Sharma as its new Chief Executive Officer for India, effective immediately.

Sharma is replacing Chin Chao, CEO of InnoVen (Singapore and Southeast Asia), who had stepped in as interim CEO for India on 1 August 2017.

Prior to joining Innoven, Sharma was President and CEO of GE Capital, India. He has more than 19 years of experience within GE and GE Capital, having started his career as a management trainee under its Global Financial Management Program.

InnoVen Capital India CEO Ashish Sharma

He subsequently took on progressive leadership roles across multiple businesses, global markets and functions, including Business Head, Commercial/Corporate Finance in GE Capital, India.

Also Read: Venture debt fund InnoVen invests US$15M in Indian online travel platform Yatra

Shantanu Mitra, Chairman of InnoVen, said: “His (Sharma’s) track record in building and leading teams to deliver high-performance growth, combined with strategic vision and deep, executional knowledge of India, puts him in good stead to expand InnoVen’s activities in India. India is an important market for InnoVen – there is a vibrant startup ecosystem here and InnoVen is well-positioned to drive and to support that growth.”

InnoVen is a joint venture between United Overseas Bank Limited (UOB) and Temasek Holding, with offices in Mumbai, Singapore and Beijing. It provides venture debt financing to high-growth and innovative tech startups, and has invested more than US$240 million in 120 startups across India and Southeast Asia. Its portfolio companies include Yatra, Oyo Rooms, Swiggy, Byju’s, Nestaway, Pepperfry, Prizm Payments, Shaadi.com, ShopClues, Myntra, FreeCharge, Manthan Software, Firstcry, Practo and Capillary Technologies in India, and 123RF, RedDoorz, M17 Entertainament, Oway, Fave, Guavapass and Pomelo in Southeast Asia.

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