From Paytm To Lenskart: List of 10 Companies In Which Ratan Tata Has Invested
Ratan Tata, an Indian businessman born in 1937, led the Tata Group, a big company in Mumbai, twice as chairman, from 1991 to 2012 and again from 2016 to 2017. He belongs to a famous Indian family known for business and charity work.?
After studying in New York, he returned to India to work for Tata Group. He made big moves, like buying Tetley Tea and Daewoo Motors' truck business. Tata's leadership also saw Tata Steel buying Corus Group and Tata Motors acquiring Jaguar and Land Rover. He introduced the affordable Tata Nano car and received many awards, including the Padma Bhushan in 2000.
Now, he runs the Tata Group's charity trusts. People often ask for his help, and he's happy to advise new businesses. He sees helping startups as a way to keep learning and wants to keep doing it as long as he can. He supports startups not just with money, but because he believes in what they're trying to do. Check out the list of 10 companies in which Ratan Tata has invested.
Paytm?
Ratan Tata started investing in Paytm in March 2015. Paytm is owned by One97 Communications, a company that runs a popular digital payments platform. Tata didn't just give money; he also became a business advisor for the company. Paytm wasn't always a big online store. It began as a place to recharge mobile phones. But over time, it grew into a big online marketplace with lots of different things to buy. It became even more famous when it got permission from the Reserve Bank of India to be India's first payment bank.
CarDekho
CarDekho, a big website where you can search for cars, helps people buy cars online. In 2015, Ratan Tata invested an undisclosed amount into GirnarSoft, the company that owns CarDekho, BikeDekho, and PriceDekho websites.
Mr. Amit Jain, CEO and Co-Founder, GirnarSoft said, ¡°We are extremely proud & excited to partner with a man of Mr. Tata¡¯s stature, especially considering his contribution to the growth & development of the Indian automobile industry. Following our humble beginning as a small venture in Jaipur, CarDekho has had a very exciting journey to reach this point of recognition and we now have very aggressive plans for developing our business and boosting revenues in the future. Post our recent funding and investment by Mr. Tata, we are another step closer to the group¡¯s vision of becoming a global company through our innovative products and services. With the faith and confidence shown by Mr. Tata in the company, it increases our responsibility towards contributing for the overall development of the online automobile sector.¡±
Ola/Ola Electric
Ratan Tata first invested in Ola in July 2015, five years after it started in 2010. He put in Rs 95 lakhs rupees from his own pocket. His company, RNT Capital Advisors, also invested 400 crore rupees, showing strong support for Ola's vision. Then, in 2019, he made another investment in Ola Electric Mobility Pvt Ltd, although the exact amount isn't known. This was part of the startup's Series A funding. Ola Electric is a branch of the parent company Ola, which Tata had previously supported. Ola Electric hopes that Tata's experience and advice will help them achieve their big goals in electric mobility.?
Zivame
Zivame, an online underwear company, was started in 2011 by Richa Kar and Kapil Karekar. They got support from Ratan Tata. In September 2015, Ratan Tata invested in Zivame, but the exact amount wasn't shared publicly. It was said that they would use this money to improve their technology and get more customers. Zivame became famous for its creative ads and quickly became a well-known and trusted underwear brand.
Cure.fit
Cure.fit is a cool health and fitness company that got a lot of money, $170 million, from important investors like Kalaari Capital, Accel Partners, Chiratae Ventures, and Ratan Tata. They're known for their different ways of helping people stay healthy. They have fitness centers called 'Cult.fit', a food delivery service called 'Eat.fit', clinics called 'Care.fit', and a new online mental wellness platform called 'Mind.fit.' Cure.fit takes care of all parts of staying healthy, like eating right, exercising, going to the doctor, and taking care of your mind. They're like the top leader when it comes to taking care of your health.
Lenskart
Lenskart started in 2010 by Peyush Bansal and Amit Chaudhary in Faridabad. It's a famous online store that sells eyeglasses, sunglasses, contact lenses and eyewear accessories. In April 2016, Ratan Tata invested an undisclosed amount. What's cool is that Lenskart says Tata didn't just give them money; he also helps them with advice and support.
UrbanLadder
Urban Ladder is a company in Bengaluru that sells furniture online. They got an investment from Ratan Tata in November 2015. It was Ratan Tata's second investment in an E-commerce company after Snapdeal. But in November 2020, Reliance Industries bought 96 percent of Urban Ladder for more than Rs 182 crore.
Urban Company
Urban Company, previously known as UrbanClap, got investment from Ratan Tata in December 2015. Urban Company is a Gurugram (Gurgaon) based firm where people can find different services.
Abra
Ratan Tata invested in a Bitcoin company called Abra in Silicon Valley along with American Express. Abra's app lets people keep digital money and send it to any smartphone. Abra makes money when people use its app to buy or sell digital currency.
Snapdeal
Ratan Tata started investing in online shopping in 2014 by putting money into Snapdeal. Reports say he bought a small part of Snapdeal, spending less than Rs 5 crore at first. This happened when Flipkart bought Myntra. He bought 256 shares from Snapdeal's early investors. Snapdeal was begun in 2010 by Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal. It's a big online store in India, selling lots of different things from over 1,25,000 brands. Big companies like eBay and Alibaba have also put money into Snapdeal. Tata's investment helped Snapdeal stay strong and keep competing with other online stores. It stopped bigger companies from taking over everything.
