Anirudh A Damani
Managing Partner at Artha Venture Fund
Mumbai, Maharashtra
Overview
Work Experience
Managing Partner
2017 - Current
Artha Venture Fund is India’s pioneering early-stage microVC fund, dedicated to identifying and nurturing high-potential startups. As the country’s first micro-VC fund, AVF has established itself as a leader in the venture capital space, setting the standard for early-stage investments The fund's investment strategy is built on the experience I have gained from investing in 100+ companies, participating in 255+ funding rounds and delivering top-quartile results. AVF-I, our inaugural fund, was a ₹225 crore fund that successfully invested in transformative companies poised to disrupt their industries. With a strategic focus on tech-driven solutions, AVF-I has played a critical role in the growth of several high-impact startups, with a total of 34 investments, 60 investment rounds & 750+ crore valuation created. AVF I ranked as the #1 early-stage fund in India by Preqin (2025 report) Notable investments - Agnikul, Everest Fleet, LenDenClub, InstaAstro, GetWork, Daalchini, and etc. Discover the portfolio at www.artha.vc/portfolio
Director
2013
Artha India Ventures is a Venture Capital & Renewable Energy investment firm. The company buys renewable energy projects that provide long term cash flows for investing in startups. As an active investor in its startups the company has delivered superior returns in its startup portfolio. The exits are utilised in buying new renewable energy projects. As of 31/03/2025, the company owns 1.25 MW of wind turbines, 955 KW of solar energy, 320 vending machines, a fleet of 61 cars, and investments in 65+ startups. Notable investments: OYO Rooms, NowFloats, Exotel, BabyChakra, Tala, Purplle, VPhrase, CapLinked, SuprDaily, LenDenClub and ConfirmTkt
Partner
2013
Artha Energy Resources (“AER”), headquartered in Mumbai, is an advisory firm that is focused in attracting and bringing new investment into the renewable power generation industry in India across segments and asset classes. AER provides turn-key solutions for investors, governments and end-consumers alike. With a small team, I have geared the operations to build an extensive network of industry professionals across the power sector value chain collaborating with investors, developers, financers, leading EPC & technology partners and government personnel and boast a healthy project pipeline.
Director
2013
Artha Group is the umbrella entity of Artha Venture Fund, Artha India Ventures, and Artha Energy Resources.
Co-Founder
2009 - 2012
After taking over the firm with two other friends in 2010, the three of us grew the firms business at 100% CAGR for 2 years before I decided to move back to India and join my family in building their footprint here.
Director of Business Development
2008 - 2009
Sales & Business Development
Regional Director
2006 - 2009
Texas First Energy was rechristened US First Energy and I was given charge of leading the sales effort for Texas. I built a sales force for USFE and besides being the top sales agent was also given the award for the being the top team leader and the top area leader in 2006. The same year I was also promoted to manage the much larger and lucrative state of Illinois where I built a sales team of 50 sales agents bringing in 600 MU of contracted power a year! Later on I went on to become the youngest Regional Leader managing the states of Illionis, New York and Texas and when the opportunity arose where I could take over the energy broking firm, 2 other friends and I took over the firm in 2010 under the name Pioneer Energy Resources with me as President.
Area Leader
2005 - 2006
Within 6 months I was one of the top sales people in the company and my passion for a challenge was tested when the company asked me to build a commercial sales program (which the company had failed in building on 2 previous occasions) with just a Regional Manager and me. At that time I was the youngest and the fastest persons promoted from a Sales agent to Area Manager. The TFE was selling for a small and niche player at that time – Stream Energy and post hurricane Katrina and Rita the sky-rocketing prices for electricity made the product offering too expensive and unviable. Undeterred by these initial setbacks the RL and I worked closely with Stream’s product team to bring in a median market product that gave Stream good margins while offering a small incentive to consumers. Armed with this product and with the sales skills assimilated from the best in the company, I recruited a small team and went out to personally test the product in the market. My team eventually smashed sales targets that were set out for a month in a day! Some of the records that were established by this small team still stand untouched.
Team Leader
2005 - 2005
Sales & Sales Management
Sales Executive
2005 - 2005
Early in my career, I was smitten by the entrepreneurial bug and took up a door to door sales job with Texas First Energy (TFE) immediately after graduation.