Goldman's Vishal Bakshi departs to set up PE firm
Vishal Bakshi, a managing director at Goldman Sachs in India, has left the firm to found his own private equity firm Avatar Growth Capital Partners.
According to Bakshi's LinkedIn page, he founded Avatar in May, a month after he departed Goldman. The firm will seek investment opportunities in high growth companies in India's middle market, sources familiar with the development told Livemint.
Bakshi served as a vice president in Goldman's New York office from 2000-2008, after which he became managing director in the firm's Mumbai branch. During his time at the firm he served on the board of several of its portfolio companies, including Singapore-headquartered big data analytics start-up Antuit and Indian insurer and hospital operator Max India.
Goldman Sachs is an active investor in India. Its investments in the country's consumer sector include restaurant operator Azure Hospitality, and online furniture retailer Pepperfry. The firm has also invested in renewable energy producer ReNew Power Ventures and Piramal Realty, the real estate development arm of the Piramal Group.
Bakshi's Avatar joins the ranks of Indian GPs founded by former executives of prominent firms. Earlier this year Rishi Navani, co-founder of Matrix Partners India, left the firm to start a new GP, Epiq Capital. Other recent examples include Amicus Capital, founded last year by Mahesh Parasurman and Sunil Vasudevan, formerly of The Carlyle Group and India Value Fund Advisors, respectively, and Sealink Capital, launched in 2014 by Heramb Hajarnavis, KKR's former head of PE for India.
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