The corporate VC arm of Reliance ADA Group will now look beyond technology and TMT space.

Reliance Technology Ventures Ltd, the corporate venture capital arm of the Reliance ADA Group, is rebranding the company as Reliance Venture Asset Management Ltd.

This move essentially signifies the company’s new strategy of targeting sectors beyond its erstwhile focus of technology-enabled businesses.


The company will now follow a sector-agnostic approach. Explaining the rebranding exercise, Harshal Shah, MD & CEO, Reliance Technology Ventures, told Neytri, “when we looked at investing into technology in 2005, our mothership was Reliance Communications. We had access to knowledge of the ecosystem- the customers, the suppliers, contracts, nature of financing and so on. Subsequently, the other businesses of the Reliance ADA Group – Reliance Capital, Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance Energy, Reliance Natural Resources, Reliance Power, Reliance Media & Entertainment–started to grow.  This is in line with the growth pattern of the group”.

On whether the current move can mean that the entity is now open to receiving commitments from any external LPs (Limited Partners), Shah said, “this is certainly not on the agenda now”. Shah added that this move helps them in perception management both internally and externally.

Externally, they will now be seen as a venture firm looking beyond technology and TMT sectors and also internally the team will be enthused to add value in sectors beyond technology.

Besides, the move will allow them to co-invest with other VC funds and seek opportunities in sectors beyond technology.

RTVL has been receiving investment proposals in logistics, aerospace, defence and cleantech. The sweet spot for the firm’s investment till now has been in the range of $1 million to $15 million.

The company’s global investment portfolio comprises of Yatra.com, Suvidhaa Infoserve, Stoke Inc, Pelago Inc, Sequans Communications, E-Band Communications, Seedfund and two MIT-startups, Dhama Innovations and Scalable Display Technologies.

Some of the transactions that they advised the Reliance ADA Group on include the $300 million all-cash acquisition of San Francisco-based, Yipes Inc. by Reliance Communications, $82 million acquisition of UK-based, Vanco plc, and eWaveWorld, a $500 million initiative to bring 3G and 4G to 50 countries around the world by 2012.