shah: Mahindra & Mahindra’s VC unit head Parag Shah quits, to set up own venture

Parag Shah, who was at the helm of Mahindra & Mahindra’s $1 billion venture capital (VC) arm Mahindra Partners, has stepped down from his role after spending two decades with the group amidst a shift in focus at the Anand Mahindra-led group that has prioritised consolidation of existing businesses and will go slow on investments through the arm in the foreseeable future, as per people in the know.

Shah, a Harvard and Illinois Institute of Technology alumnus, oversaw the incubation and growth of several new businesses of the group such as MahindraLogistics, which went public a few years ago, Mahindra Susten, an EPC business in the green energy space, and FirstCry, a popular kidswear brand that eventually became a unicorn.

As managing partner of Mahindra Partners, he also led investments in businesses outside the group, notably in the healthcare space where the firm backed Medwell Ventures, founded by former Fortis Hospitals’ chief executive officer Vishal Bali, and Delhi-based ophthalmology chain Centre for Sight, founded by Dr Mahipal Sachdev, a former practitioner at All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

Shah is setting up his own venture, as per an internal note circulated to employees by M&M’s group chief executive officer Anish Shah. ET has seen a copy of the note.
Mahindra & Mahindra declined to comment. Shah did not respond to ET’s request for comment.Shah’s exit follows that of other senior executives such as the firm’s head of investments Raj Kamal Agarwal and head of healthcare Pirojshaw Sarkari, both of whom have quit in the past two years to pursue other opportunities.