This appointment makes Siddarth the Indian Venture Capital industry’s first ESG Officer and the youngest professional to hold this position.
Leading early-stage venture capital firm, 3one4 Capital, today announced the appointment of Siddarth Pai as its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Officer. This appointment makes Siddarth the Indian Venture Capital industry’s first ESG Officer and the youngest professional to hold this position.
Siddarth Pai is a Founding Partner and the Chief Financial Officer at 3one4 Capital. As the ESG Officer, he will also lead the firm’s intentional work in bringing the foundational principles of ESG into its investment and portfolio management routines. This includes aligning the firm’s framework for ESG practices with its existing processes and standards, sharing ESG objectives, policies and practices with the firm’s portfolio companies, and actively participating in the development of ESG in the Indian ecosystem. Siddarth is also the youngest ever Executive Council member of the Indian Venture Capital Association (IVCA), India’s apex association representing the country’s private equity & venture capital industry. He is also co-Chair of the regulatory affairs committee and works extensively in creating a conducive ecosystem for startups and venture capital.
3one4 Capital is the first approved Venture Capital signatory of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) from India and the fifth overall investment firm approved from India. The PRI is a United Nations-supported international network of investors working together to implement sustainable investment by incorporating ESG principles.
Pranav Pai, Founding Partner and Chief Investment Officer, said, “3one4 Capital is committed to partnering with the next set of generational innovation engines out of India, attempting to create inclusive value and drive GDP expansion. With Siddarth as our ESG Officer, the firm will aim to fuse the drive for performance and the possibility of positive transformation into a collaborative framework that is tangible and practical for the best founding teams. We will continue to partner with startups that today have the unique opportunity to truly do good while creating value.”
“It’s a privilege to be the ESG officer of the first VC signatory to the UNPRI. In this dual role of ESG Officer and CFO, I believe I can better implement sustainable investing across the organization due to the quantitative and qualitative impact it has on operations. The focus will be on raising awareness and embedding it in the chain of commerce to benefit all stakeholders – internal, external and regulatory. It also enables me to work with our portfolio companies and help them become the early adopters and champions of ESG. The value of ESG transcends the balance sheet in the long term, but it’s important to translate the short to midterm impact on the bottom line to create more awareness and add a competitive edge. Hopefully, in time, the role of the ESG officer must become as critical as any other CXO and finance,” said Siddarth Pai.
3one4 Capital’s portfolio spans multiple sectors, including SaaS and Enterprise Automation, Direct to Consumer products and services, Fintech, Digital Media, and Deep Tech. Within these sectors, the funds are actively investing in areas such as health-tech, edtech, food and agri-tech, EV and energy systems, logistics and distribution, semiconductor design, mobility, Indic language-focused applications, and more. By committing to the ESG framework for sustainable investing, the firm will aim to action these principles across multiple sectors and support the acceleration of the positive transformation of the economy as these companies scale forward. Preqin has recently ranked the firm as India’s top performer for two of its funds in the recent Alternative Assets 2021 report. The seed and early-stage funds have been recognized for their performance amongst the India-focused venture capital funds in this Asia Pacific-focused report. With Net IRR of 37% and 35%, respectively, 3one4 Capital’s Rising I & Fund II (Scheme II) are the top two amongst the best performing India-focused VC funds between the vintage years, 2010- 2018.
3one4 Capital currently oversees a corpus of INR 1800 Cr (+USD 240 Mn) and a portfolio of over 70 investments across the early stage. Its portfolio companies include Licious, Open, DarwinBox, Jupiter, Betterplace, Koo, Dozee, Breathe Well-Being, among others. The latest fund focuses on ticket sizes in the range of USD 500K to USD 4 million for entries, with a strong preference to be the first institutional check to partner with founders. The firm, founded by Pranav Pai & Siddarth Pai, has continuously attracted top-tier global and Indian investors as Limited Partners (LPs). These investors include university endowments, foundations, sovereign DFIs, family offices, funds-of-funds, and corporate and financial institutional investors such as banks and industrial conglomerates. 3one4 has launched five funds over half a decade and is amongst the fastest-growing VC firms in India. These consecutive fund closures, combined with the industry-leading signatory status, are a testimony to the team’s consistent track record and performance in the Indian early-stage ecosystem.
Source: Business World
