NXG
So when an opportunity
arose to sell the business in 2013, he decided it was time to move on. His partners, keen to continue, bought him out and Damani returned to the family office to fulfil his ambitions. However, things didn’t just fall into place straight away when he returned to his native India from the US. “For a year and a half I
tried my hand at a bunch of the family’s businesses. In the stockbroking arm—I tried setting up a division to trade in options, but that didn’t work out. I even moved to Kolkata for six months to try my hand at the real estate development
company we were partners with, but again, that was not the right fit for me. That is when I decided to do my own thing and look into investing in early stage companies.” But selling his dream
to the senior Damani brothers was the first hurdle he had to overcome. As conservative investors, they were not too keen on the increased risk that would go hand-in-hand with investing into early stage companies. Damani had to get
creative, and taking inspiration from Warren Buffett’s bets in renewable energy, he came up with a solution that would protect his family’s capital.
THAT IS WHEN I DECIDED TO DO MY OWN THING AND LOOK INTO INVESTING IN EARLY STAGE COMPANIES
“I used my experience in The family
behind Damani. (L-R) Advait (nephew),
Mridul (sister), Animesh (brother), Arvind (brother- in-law), Bhawna (sister-in-law), Anirudh, Sunita (mother), and Ashok (father).
the US energy sector and devised a strategy where the family would invest a pool of capital into an operating business—for us, renewable energy assets—and only using the revenues from that, we would invest into start- ups,” he says. “So even if the start-up
does not do well, there is no capital loss, we have just not made a return and that’s about it.”
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CAMPDENFB.COM
The proposition
worked and the brothers created the family’s new investment arm Artha Group, and within it, Artha Energy Resources, to invest in renewable energy projects and Artha India Ventures, to invest in start-ups. Artha Energy Resources
now has a renewable energy portfolio worth $1.2 million, which posted revenue of $200,000 last year.
ISSUE 75 | 2019
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