Meet Anirudh A Damani: Gearing Up to Invest In 100 African Startups

Young, well-travelled and with a keen eye for numbers, Anirudh A Damani, Director of Artha India Ventures, is going all-in on Africa. Between 2022- 23, his firm has made investments in Kenya-based Badili and BuuPass, along with African business lender GoodLoans.

With four unicorns, eight soonicorns and 25+ exits in his Indian portfolio, Anirudh feels that similarities between the African and Indian startup ecosystems cannot be ignored. Having seen the stupendous funding cycles in the Indian startup ecosystem and tasting successful exists, Anirudh is now ready to bet on another rising ecosystem: Africa's thriving tech scene.

Anirudh dons a few hats. He is the Managing Partner of Artha Venture Fund with a USD 33 M stash that ploughs capital in its Indian portfolio. He is also recognised as the force behind Artha Select Fund, a USD 55 M growth-stage microVC fund for India. Anirudh's successful investment strategies can be traced back to his founding of Artha India Ventures, his family office investment arm. He ventured into various investments through this entity, including those in Africa and companies such as OYO, Tala, Purplle, and IconBuild (all unicorns).

Anirudh's journey with Venture Capital began in 2012 when he returned to India from the US. The Indian startup ecosystem was still in its nascent stages at the time; names like Flipkart, Freecharge and PayTM were still introducing themselves to Indian consumers.

In the following year, through the family office, Anirudh was one of the first investors in the lodging booking company called OYO, which became a USD 10 B company in 2018. Anirudh says he secured a sizeable exit from OYO with over 150x returns.