Ratan Tata stepped down as the Chairman of Tata Sons three years ago -- December 28, 2012, his 74th birthday -- after being at the helm of one of India's largest companies for over two decades.
Ratan Tata stepped down as the Chairman of Tata Sons three years ago -- December 28, 2012, his 74th birthday -- after being at the helm of one of the largest Indian conglomerate for over two decades.
Since then, he has slipped into the role of being the Chairman of Tata Trusts and the Chairman Emeritus of Tata Group. However, if one were to follow Tata's movements in the last two years atleast, you'd know that the time has been anything but a traditional retirement for the industralist.
Along with being the chairman emeritus of Tata Group, the erstwhile Tata frontman has taken up yet another role -- of being an 'angel' (investor) and a mentor for e-commerce companies and start-ups.
According to an NDTV report which cited unnamed sources, since his retirement, “the industrialist has invested a huge portion of over Rs 4,000 crore in e-retail businesses, Rs 120 crore in the consumer market, Rs 80 crore in software firms, another Rs 75 crore in business aggregators and Rs 70 crore in ad-targeting and ad networks."
While he retired three years ago, Tata started actively investing in companies since mid 2014. Since then, there is no looking back, with him investing in as many as three companies in a single month at times.
Tata is now also on the boards of Kalaari Capital, IDG Ventures and Jungle Ventures as an advisor.
Here's a look at all the investments Ratan Tata has made since his retirement
Early 2014 – Altaeros Energies
Boston-based company was set up to commercialise the world's first air-borne wind turbine. In late 2014, the company also raised $7 million from Softbank.
August 27, 2014 Snapdeal
Ratan Tata's invested less than Rs 5 crore into India's e-commerce website Snapdeal.com that is backed by Kalaari Capital. Tata is known to have bought about 256 shares of the company from Snapdeal's angel investors, including Kenneth Glass, according to media reports. The portal also has Wipro's Azim Premji as an investor.
ALSO READ: Ratan Tata takes on Flipkart and Amazon; invests in Snapdeal.Com
September 11, 2014 – Bluestone
An online jewellery portal, Bluestone was founded by Gaurav Singh Kushwaha, an IIT graduate. He is also the CEO of the company. Bluestone is also backed by Kalaari Capital.
November 15, 2014 – Urban Ladder
Leading furniture and home decor e-portal was started by IIM-Bangalore graduates Ashish Goel and Rajiv Srivatsa in July 2012. It soon sprang to popularity and is now one of the most wel-known online portals for furniture.
December 2014 - Swasth India
Swasth India is a start-up that provides healthcare services to the lower income population of the society, received an investment of Rs 2 crore from Tata. The company was set up by and IIT Bombay graduates Sundeep Kapila and Ankur Pegu.
February 8, 2015 – cardekho.com
Started by two IIT-Delhi graduates, Anuraj and Amit Jain, and cardekho let's users buy, sell and compare prices of various cars in the market. It also reviews cars. The same duo also run bikedekho.com.
ALSO READ: Ratan Tata invests in used car platform cardekho.com
March 2015 – Grameen Capital
Grameen Capital is an investment advisory company ranging from spaces from microfinance to education and healthcare. They list their aim as catalyzing inclusive growth and make capital market access possible for enterprises that may have a positive impact on the society -- including, microfinance institutions, healthcare providers, low-cost education firms, and so on.
March 13, 2015 – One97 Communications
One97 Communications is the company that operates Paytm, an online payment solution company. Headquartered in Noida, the company also offers the option of an online wallet to its users now. The company's website said that they now have over 80 million registered users, and handles over 60 million orders per month.
In Septmeber, the company also received funding from Chinese giant Alibaba Group Holding. Soon after a month, the company signed a deal with the BCCI, to replace outgoing IPL sponsor PepsiCo.
ALSO READ: Ratan Tata invests in Paytm founding company One97 Communications
April 26, 2015 – Xiaomi
China's largest smartphone maker, Xiaomi got its first Indian investor in the form of Ratan Tata. The company's CEO Lei Jun plans to make India an important market for the phone too, after China.
ALSO READ: Ratan Tata first Indian to invest in China's Apple, Xiaomi
June 2015 – Fashion portal Kaaryah
Nidhi Agarwal Kashyap now boasts of Ratan Tata as an investor in her online fashion portal that deals with non-casual wear for women. She literally got Tata's attention via an email.
ALSO READ: Ratan Tata acquires stake in fashion portal Kaaryah
July 1, 2015 - Ola
Bhavish Aggarwal, Ola Cabs' CEO made the announcement on Twitter. He said that his company “can now learn from the rich experience of one of the finest business leaders of our times”, in a blogpost on the Ola Cabs website.
Founded in 2011, Ola Cabs now operates in over 100 cities with over 200,000 drivers.
ALSO READ: Ratan Tata invests in app-based taxi service app Ola
July 2015 – Invests in Tripura
Tata, investing in the state, said that it has great potential and has not received the recognition it deserves. He promised that the the Tata Group will come forward with investments and industries to support for the state's development.
ALSO READ: Ratan Tata invests in Tripurs to support development
July 2015 – Jungle Ventures
Jungle Venture is a Singapore based venture capital company that focuses on technology-based companies in the Asia-Pacific region. Tata has joined the company's board as a special advisor, and will mentor the company's in the venture capital firm's portfolio. The company has already invested in 30-odd technology-based start-ups like Zipdial, CrayonData and LiveSpace.
ALSO READ: Ratan Tata to join Jungle Ventures as special advisor
July 8, 2015: Lybrate
An investment of nearly Rs 65 crore was made in the healthcare start-up Lybrate by Tata, along with Tiger Global Management and Nexus Venture Partners (NVP). The US-based company has a platform that connects doctors and patients.
ALSO READ: Our app can solve the problem of healthcare inaccessibility: Lybrate founder
July 3, 2015 Internet Saathi
On the heels of Narendra Modi's Digital India announcement, Tata Trust tied up with Google and Intel and kicked off the Net Initiative for women, which will strive and bring the internet to more and more women in rural India.
Under the 'Internet Saathi' program, 1,000 bicycles with internet connectivity devices will cover 4,500 villages in the next 18 months, starting with Gujarat, Rajasthan and Jharkhand with a target of reaching 500,000 women. These cycles will give the villagers an internet experience, Tata said.
ALSO READ: Ratan Tata lauds 'Digital India'; launches internet initiative for women
July 2015: Ampere
Tata invested an undisclosed amount in a Coimbatore-based electric vehicle start-up company. This move came soon after the launch of 'Internet Saathi' program to bring the internet to more and more women in rural India.
Ampere manufactures electric vehicles, cycles, trollies and scooters, along with vehicles for differently-abled and EV chargers. It currently has dealers in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
ALSO READ: Ratan Tata invests in Coimbatore-based electric vehicle start-up
August 17, 2015 YourStory.com
An undisclosed amount was invested in the online start-up entrepreneur stories portal YourStory.com that covers stories about new, little-known entrepreneurs and stories about start-ups. It was started seven years ago by Sharma, who wanted to tell stories about "entrepreneurs who are not superstars yet but have the spark, drive and hope."
ALSO READ: Ratan Tata invests in YourStory.com
August 2015: Zivame
Online lingerie portal has joined the long line of start-ups that have received funding from Tata. Zivame boasts of having 5,000 different styles of lingerie on offer, across 50 different brands.
August 31, 2015: Infinite Analytics
Tata made an investment in predictive technology firm Infinite Analytics to scale up operations. The investment was made in Tata's personal capacity and the amount was left undisclosed.
Infinite Analytics counts companies like AirBnB, Comcast, B2W Digital, BabyOye, Croma Retail, eBay, Future Group, Infibeam, NBA, NDTV Retail, Trendin, Tata Marketplace among its clients.
ALSO READ: Now, Ratan Tata invests in Infinite Analytics
September 2, 2015 Holachef
Chairman emeritus of Tata Sons Ratan Tata has made a personal investment of an undisclosed amount in the online marketplace for chefs Holachef.
Launched in September 2014 by Saurabh Saxena and Anil Gelra, Holachef has seen substantial growth in Mumbai and Pune, the company said in a statement.
ALSO READ: Ratan Tata invests undisclosed amount in start-up Holachef
October 23, 2015: Virtual currency Abra
Ratan Tata and American Express made an undisclosed amount of investment in US-based Abra, making it the first digital or virtual currency to get an investment from Tata.
"Tata and American Express have made strategic investments in Abra as part of recently announced Series A round. These are the first investments in the cryptocurrency world for both American Express and Ratan Tata," Abra added.
ALSO READ: Ratan Tata, American Express invest in digital currency start-up Abra
October 26, 2015: LetsVenture
The funding marketplace, LetsVenture received an undisclosed amount from Tata along with Mohandas Pai, Chairman of Manipal global Education Tv.
LetsVenture acts as a middleman between start-ups and angel investors. So far, the two year old company has 1,200 investors on board from 20 countries, and has raised nearly Rs 110 crore for 53 startups.
ALSO READ: Ratan Tata invests undisclosed amount in LetsVenture
November 4, Sabse Technologies
Global telecom carrier Sabse Technologies Inc, started by Hotmail founder Sabeer Bhatia announced the strategic investment by Tata in the company.
The Silicon Valley-based company, which operates Sabsebolo -- the popular communications cloud platform for small and medium businesses -- did not disclose details of the investment.
ALSO READ: Ratan Tata invests in Sabeer Bhatia's Sabse Technologies
November 24, Crayon Data
Singapore-based big data company, Crayon Data received funding of disclosed amount from Tata.
Crayon, a portfolio company of Jungle Ventures, had previously raised 10 million Singapore dollars in seed and Series A funding from angel institutional investors like Jungle Ventures and Spring Seeds.
ALSO READ: Ratan Tata invests in Singapore's start-up Crayon Data
November 2015: Zero emissions tech with Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Ma
A group of nearly thirty leading investors, including Ratan Tata, have come together to form a coalition to invest in clean energy technologies in a bid to move towards zero emissions energy in the future, according to several media reports.
Under this organisation, these businessmen will invest money to develop clean energy solutions, that will help the world to move to nearly zero emissions energy going ahead. However, so far, the exact amount of initial or total investment isn't known yet.
ALSO READ: Ratan Tata, Mukesh Ambani, Jack Ma, Bill Gates, 26 others come together to invest in zero emissions tech
December 10, 2015: UrbanClap
An undisclosed amount was invested in services start-up UrbanClap. UrbanClap, India's largest services marketplace, is happy to announce that Ratan N Tata has invested in the company in his personal capacity," the company said in a statement. Operational in six cities - Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune and Hyderabad - UrbanClap allows users to book over 80 services, including plumbing, electrical work, beauty, wellness, tutorials and wedding photography.
The company has a network of more than 25,000 service professionals.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "-")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}