Tall and lanky but with the memory of an elephant, Sunil is the mental repository of every major development in YourNest which he co-founded in 2011 after a successful corporate career working closely with the fourth-generation entrepreneur family of Dabur and the founders of Bharti Airtel.
Before becoming a full-time, early-stage investor and fund manager, he had gained comprehensive experience of leading complex projects in the areas of M&A, business turnarounds and strategic partnerships. Sunil also continued to be an independent director on the Board of select Bharti group entities until recently.
As one of the country’s early angel investors, Sunil has led seed-stage investments and guided companies to successful exits: his investments which reaped healthy returns include ZipDial (9.6x acquired by Twitter), VuClip (4.4x acquired by PCCW) and Mobiquest (1.8x acquired by PayTM). A former member of The Indian Angel Network and Mumbai Angels, Sunil discovered an acumen for spotting high-potential startups and eventually chose to set up YourNest Venture Capital.
A casual golfer, Sunil relishes driving businesses that involve a high sense of purpose and vision. His belief in ‘conscious capitalism’ makes him represent India’s VC industry at governmental policy-making forums where he has been able to effect changes that benefit both investors and founders. Passionate about startups that generate employment, Sunil helps them in building businesses from the ground-up stage to leading transformation. He awaits the day he can play the Indian national anthem when a portfolio company lists on NASDAQ, and looks forward to setting up an office for YourNest on Mars in his lifetime.
He is a qualified CFA from ICFAI, a Cost Accountant from ICWAI and a Master’s in Business Economics (MBE) from the University of Delhi – South Campus.