India and Southeast Asia’s Partner for Growth-stage Secondaries
About Us
Kenro, in Japanese, signifies “strength” and “resilience”, qualities that resonated with what we are aiming to build at Kenro Capital, and what the founders exhibit in building their businesses
We are operating in a large $100Bn secondary market growing at 25% CAGR, by being a partner of choice for providing liquidity solutions to investors in growth-stage companies across India and SEA
What We Stand For
Distinct growth-stage secondaries focus
Solving a growing structural market liquidity deficit
Deep on-ground sourcing and exit capability
Our Value Proposition
For Sellers
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Liquidity
Ticket size $20-30Mn, with flexibility of starting small and increasing investment subsequently
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Specialization
Focused secondary mandate – no competition on primary rounds
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Efficiency
Fast, low-friction process, with transparency on valuation and terms
For Founders & Investee Companies
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IPO and M&A experience
Practitioner insights and hands-on support in IPO and M&A
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Cap table refresh
Ability for companies to provide exits to its long standing shareholders and reset the investment horizon
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Efficiency
Fast, low-friction process, with transparency on valuation and terms
Investment Strategy
Market
The Venture Capital (VC) industry in India & SEA has grown from deploying an average of $6Bn per year during 2008-2017 to $35Bn per year during 2018-2024, and totalling to >$260Bn in investment value till date
As the VC industry matures, there is a growing awareness and alignment between key stakeholders to prioritize the pace of capital distribution. Direct secondary sales and portfolio secondary sale solutions are effective tools to achieve this objective
Kenro Target Company Profile
Scaled market leader/ differentiated offering
Profitable or near profitability
Strong corporate governance track record
Cap table in need of liquidity solutions
Team
Piyush was with Sequoia India (Peak XV), India/SEA’s largest VC firm, for the last 7 years, where he headed strategic development and generated an industry-leading exit execution track record with $2Bn+ cash exits. Prior to this, Piyush spent 17 years in technology investment banking at Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank, where he developed a deep understanding of tech companies while executing IPOs, M&A, and private placement. Across his career in the region, he has been instrumental in >30 IPOs and public market follow-ons. Piyush holds an undergraduate degree from SRCC, Delhi University, and a management degree from IIM Ahmedabad
Norbert is one of the most experienced secondary investment specialists in India. Leading TR Capital’s India investments from 2017 till recently, he has closed several noteworthy secondary transactions and is a founding member of the IVCA Secondaries Special Interest Group. Norbert started his investing career with Temasek and then went on to co-found IvyCap Ventures, creating a strong track record of returns. His work has won industry recognition, including from PEI and IAAIF. Norbert holds an undergraduate degree from IIT Kanpur and a management degree from IIM Calcutta
Testimonials
Alan Mamedi
Co-Founder & CEO, Truecaller
Conducting an IPO was a very important milestone for us to unlock value for all our shareholders. However, as founders, it was not something that Nami or I had ever done before. We leaned heavily on Piyush to assist us with this as a key trusted partner. He helped us pick our IPO banks and stayed involved on a day-to-day basis across major workstreams, including the analyst presentation, prospectus drafting, investor targeting, price setting, and allocations. We would highly recommend other founders to work with him on their IPO journey and gain from his experience
Amit Jain
Founder & CEO, CarDekho
I have worked with Piyush since his Deutsche Bank days, and two things that have always stood out for me are his acumen and genuine intent to help. He would speak in the interest of the company
Amrish Rau
CEO, Pine Labs
Piyush has played multiple roles in the Pine Labs relationship. We have seen him as the innovative deal maker who has helped Pine Labs through capital raising and M&A. He played a significant role in the $1Bn+ cumulative funds we raised. He has played the role of a prudent board member, helping us navigate through complex domain-related programs. But his best contribution has been in helping me personally to bounce ideas and programs that can solve growth-related requirements. In his time with Pine Labs, the company has grown revenues and EBITDA by nearly 5X. It’s been great to have him on our side
Bhargav Kotadia
MD, SMT
Norbert is one of the sharpest investors I've worked with. Within a short span of time, he assimilated fully with the board and was hands-on in our business, capital allocation, and fund-raising discussions. Beyond that, he has now also become a good friend
Kunal Shah
Founder & CEO, CRED
I turned to Piyush for guidance on sizing my first fundraise in CRED, and his advice was spot on. I have seen him in action, bringing his investment banking expertise with great empathy for founders
Manish Taneja
Founder & CEO, Purplle
Norbert was a friend before he led the Series A at Purplle and continues to be a friend. He championed our investment with his firm from start to finish and then was closely involved in our early years as a hands-on board member. Several important organization-level decisions that impact us till today were made during those board meetings with him. To me, his two defining qualities are being founder-first and being a tenacious problem solver
Sameer Maheshwari
Co-Founder and CEO, HealthKart
Piyush played a pivotal role in raising capital for HealthKart during our growth journey and also helped me build a perspective on capital raising and the exit roadmap of the company. Piyush cut through the noise and helped us channelize our fundraising efforts towards the right set of investors with the right messaging in order to drive timely closure, which is most critical from a founder's perspective. While at times investors and the company may have conflicted interests, Piyush demonstrated an exceptional sense of responsibility to provide the best advice for the company
Siva Namasivayam
Founder and CEO, SCIO Health Analytics
Thank you, Piyush! You were the difference between cup and the lip for us! Thanks for managing this M&A exit process to get it to a successful conclusion which has resulted in the fructification of 11 years of effort for me and my team
Vineet Rai
Founder & Chairman,
Aavishkaar Group
Norbert has been a constructive and proactive nominee director at Arohan for an extended period. We really appreciated and valued Norbert contribution during the post COVID challenges faced by Arohan. Norbert was the rare investor director who never lost line of sight of the big picture and ceaselessly worked together with Arohan management to find solutions. Norbert’s most notable skill is to work with a group of people with competing objectives and manage to drive everyone toward an amicable solution around a complex issue
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