List of 25 Startups Funded by Ratan Tata

List of 25 Startups Funded by Ratan Tata
"If you want to walk fast, walk alone. But if you want to walk far, walk together."
- Ratan Tata, Tata Group

Ratan Tata is a prolific investor and has made numerous investment in many Startups. His style of investment and funding are revered by many across the globe. And his investments are known to emerge as giants in their respective sectors with time. Ola Cabs is an example.

An investment from Ratan Tata gives a boost to startups in terms of publicity, acquiring finances, and brand-building. Here is a list of the startups that Ratan Tata has funded over the years. Consequently, the behemoth organization of Ratan tata - Tata Group has also infiltrated a number of markets such as telecom, software, groceries, and fashion.

Latest News

22 April, 2021 - Ratan Tata has recently made an undisclosed amount of investment in Mailit which is a Mumbai based logistics startup serving a lot of big corporates including Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, etc.

  1. Mailit
  2. Tork Motors
  3. Snapdeal
  4. Cure.fit
  5. Paytm
  6. Ola
  7. Repos Energy
  8. ClimaCell
  9. Abra
  10. CarDekho
  11. Holachef
  12. FirstCry
  13. Lenskart
  14. NestAway
  15. Urban Ladder
  16. UrbanCompany
  17. GOQii
  18. Xiaomi
  19. Lybrate
  20. Infinite Analytics
  21. CashKaro
  22. DogSpot
  23. BlueStone
  24. Zivame
  25. Generic Aadhaar

Flaunt your startup with StartupTalky 

800+ stories, thousands of founders, and millions of visitors. Want to be the next?

StartupTalky is where founders, entrepreneurs, startups and businesses hang out and look up to for inspiration. If you have the means, we have the medium! Inviting founders and startups who are building sustainable solutions from ground zero! Startups who run the show, StartupTalky will let the world know!

Request Feature at StartupTalky

Mailit

The Recent investment by Ratan Tata was in 2021, as he invested in Mailit, a technology-driven mailroom management and logistics company. The terms of the investment are undisclosed but it comes at at a time when Mailit is planning to launch 500 mailrooms across India in addition to establishing fully mechanised warehouses and distribution centres in the next five years.

Tork Motors

Tork motors | Ratan Tata Investment
Tork motors | Ratan Tata Investment

Tork Motors is a Pune-based electric motorcycle startup. Ratan Tata invested an undisclosed amount in Tork Motors in October 2019. He saw potential in the company and found the team to be commendable. Apart from Ratan Tata, Bharat Forge and Bhavish Aggarwal (Ola Cabs' founder) have also invested in Tork Motors.

Snapdeal

Snapdeal | Ratan Tata Investment
Snapdeal | Ratan Tata Investment

Snapdeal is India’s first online marketplace for multiple categories. It has received funding from Ebay and Alibaba. Snapdeal was launched by Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal in February 2010. It has over 3 lakh sellers and hosts over 3 crore products across 800+ diverse categories from more than 1,25,000 regional, national, and international brands and retailers.

Ratan Tata made an investment in Snapdeal soon after Flipkart's acquisition of Myntra. He bought 256 shares from the e-commerce venture’s angel investors. This move not only protected Snapdeal from losing market share but also prevented any potential attempt by Flipkart to monopolize the e-commerce segment.


Pierre Omidyar | Founder & Chairman of eBay | Founder of Omidyar Network |
Pierre Omidyar is an American Entrepreneur and a software engineer who foundedthe e-commerce platform, eBay in 1995. He was the Chairman of the company from1998 to 2015. He soon became a billionaire as soon as eBay issued an InitialPublic Offering (IPO) in 1998. In 2010, he launched an investigat…

Cure.fit

Curefit Logo
Curefit | Ratan Tata Investment

Cure.fit is a health and fitness startup that has raised $170 million from investors like Accel Partners, Kalaari Capital, Chiratae Ventures, and Ratan Tata to date.

Cure.fit maintains a chain of fitness centers (under the 'Cult.fit' brand), a food delivery platform called 'Eat.fit', a chain of healthcare clinics called 'Care.fit', and the recently launched online mental-wellness platform called ‘Mind.fit’.


Mukesh Bansal - CEO of Cure.fit | Founder of Myntra
Mukesh Bansal is the Founder of the fashion e-commerce firm, Myntra[/myntra-online-fashion-store/]. He is an Indian businessman, who currentlyserves as the CEO of Cure.fit and its co-founder as well. He is also on theboard of Olympics Gold Quest, which is a non-profit organization that promotess…

Paytm

Paytm | Ratan Tata Investment
Paytm logo

Paytm started out as a mobile recharging platform and later became an online marketplace for multiple categories. It became India’s first payment bank after receiving a license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Ratan Tata Made an investment in Paytm by raising a funding of INR 1 crore in March 2015 for One97 Communications – the parent company of Paytm. This funding fetched him the position of a business advisor on One97 Communications' board.

Paytm is now among the most successful digital payment companies with millions of subscribers. It thrived when the demonetization scheme was implemented in India in November 2018. At present, the company’s gross merchandise value (GMV) is over $1 billion.


Paytm: Bringing Cashless Revolution In India | Paytm Case Study
Paytm case study is one of the hot topics among the business enthusiasts andanalysts. Here’s a thoroughly researched paytm case study for you! Paytm is India’s biggest versatile installments, e-wallet, and business stage.Even though it began as an energizing stage in 2010, Paytm has changed its p…

Ola

Ola Logo | Ratan Tata Investment
Ola Logo | Ratan Tata Investment

Ola is India’s first home-grown cab aggregator service and one of the nine Indian unicorn startups valued at $5 billion. The app allows users to book a taxi on their smartphone at the best fares. Ola provides cab services across price segments that range from economy to luxury.

Ratan Tata funded Ola in July 2015, 5 years after the company began its operations in 2010. He invested INR 95 lakhs in the company in personal capacity. Ratan Tata made also an investment through his investment company – RNT Capital Advisors – of INR 400 crores in Ola.

Repos Energy

Repos Energy  | Ratan Tata Investment
Repos Energy | Ratan Tata Investment

Aditi Bhosale Walunj and Chetan Walunj founded Repos Energy. Repos Energy is a Pune-based startup responsible for the doorstep delivery of fuel to industries. It works using cloud-based technology and IoT devices. Customers can order diesel on the Repos app. A Repos petrol pump operator then arrives at the customer's location and completes the diesel delivery. Ratan Tata made an undisclosed amount of investment in this startup.

ClimaCell

Climacell | Ratan Tata Funded Startup
Climacell | Ratan Tata Funded Startup

ClimaCell is an app developed by Rei Goffer, Shimon Elkabetz, and Itai Zlotnik that provides accurate weather forecast to alert people about upcoming floods. It uses day-to-day devices as environmental sensors. ClimaCell focuses on error-free weather predictions and has garnered a lot of attention.

Ratan Tata participated in ClimaCell's seed round funding in September 2016. ClimaCell has acquired $70 million over three rounds of funding.

Abra

Abra Logo | Ratan Tata Investment
Abra Logo | Ratan Tata Investment

Ratan Tata has also made an investment in a Silicon Valley based bitcoin startup with American Express where he with American Express invested $12 million in Abra. People can store digital cash and send money to any smartphone using Abra's app. Abra earns money when users buy or sell digital currency through its app.

CarDekho

CarDekho Logo | Ratan tata Funded Startups
CarDekho Logo | Ratan tata Funded Startups

CarDekho is India’s leading car search venture that helps users purchase the right cars. Ratan Tata invested an undisclosed amount in GirnarSoft – the parent company of CarDekho, BikeDekho, and PriceDekho portals.

The CarDekho app has rich automotive content that includes expert reviews, detailed specs and prices, comparisons, and the visuals of the different car brands and models available in India.

The company deals with many automobile manufacturers, more than 4000 car dealers, and numerous financial institutions to facilitate the purchase of vehicles. The CarDekho portal accounts for about 30% of the automobile manufacturers' combined annual sales today.

Holachef

Hola Chef | Ratan tata Funded Startups
Hola Chef | Ratan tata Funded Startups

Holachef was founded by Saxena and Anil Gelra in 2014. Holachef connects expert chefs with consumers via its website and mobile app (available for both Android and iOS platforms). The platform offers a new menu everyday and delivers food in a state-of-the-art packaging. Holachef received an undisclosed amount of investment from Ratan Tata in September 2015.

Ola-owned food delivery firm Foodpanda has acquired Holachef.


Foodpanda buys Cloud kitchen startup Holchef
Bengaluru-headquartered Ola’s subsidiary, Foodpanda has acquired Mumbai-basedcloud kitchen firm, Holachef. The cost of the distressed sale has not beendivulged though. With this deal, Foodpanda will derive Holachef’s founding team, brand name andkitchen equipments. An estimated 67 employees wi…

FirstCry

Firstcry Logo | Ratan Tata Funded Startups
Firstcry Logo | Ratan Tata Funded Startups

FirstCry is a baby care e-commerce platform. FirstCry is owned by BrainBees Solutions. It follows an omni-channel strategy of selling through online and offline stores. Ratan Tata invested an undisclosed amount in this startup in January 2016.

Lenskart

Lenskart Logo | Ratan Tata Funded Startup
Lenskart Logo | Ratan Tata Funded Startup

Lenskart is a popular online retailer for eyewear. It was also been added to the list of companies invested by Tata as it secured funding from Ratan Tata in April 2016; the amount is undisclosed.

Lenskart sells sunglasses, eye glasses, contact lenses, and more. The officials from Lenskart said that Ratan Tata’s role was more of a mentor and an advisor than a financial investor. Some of the investors in Lenskart are TPG Group, IDG Ventures India, and Unilazer Ventures founder Ronnie Screwvala.

NestAway

nestaway logo | Ratan Tata Funded Startups
nestaway logo | Ratan Tata Funded Startups

NestAway allows users to find, book, and move-in to a rental home of their choice across Indian cities. NestAway's aim is to provide better rental solutions with the help of design and technology. The company presently caters to more than 35,000 tenants and 16,000 owners, providing homes to over 7000 families in cities like Delhi, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and others. Ratan Tata invested an undisclosed amount in NestAway Technologies Pvt. Ltd. in December 2017.


List of Real Estate Startups in India
Now a days, every startup provides services at your doorstep. You can haveanswers for all your problems with few clicks on internet. Now technology has made this easy. You can have all information related toproperty with few clicks on internet. Real estate industry is using enhancedtechnologies…

Urban Ladder

Urban ladder logo | Ratan Tata funded Startups
Urban ladder logo | Ratan Tata funded Startups

Urban Ladder is an online furniture seller. Urban Ladder was founded by Ashish Goel and Rajiv Srivatsa in July 2012. It currently offers over 1,000 products across 25 furniture categories such as wardrobes, beds, sofas, dining tables, and coffee tables. The online retailer secured funding from Ratan Tata in November 2015.

UrbanCompany

Urban Company Logo
Urban Company Logo

UrbanCompany, previously known as UrbanClap, is a local services marketplace that raised an undisclosed amount in funding from Ratan Tata in December 2015. It is also funded by Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal.

The UrbanCompany app allows the online booking of services such as plumbing, electric work, beauty treatments, and salon. UrbanCompany has successfully penetrated the services sector and bridged the gap between workers and consumers. People can now easily overcome the challenges of household hurdles, troubles, fixtures, and anything related through UrbanCompany.

GOQii

Goqii Logo | Ratan tata funded Startups
Goqii Logo | Ratan tata funded Startups

GOQii makes healthcare watches that are similar to smart watches. It also makes GOQii Stride, a device people can attach to their shoes and keep track of the number of steps, etc. GOQii's platform provides tools for real-time personalized coaching, scheduling health check-ups, and securing information in a health locker. GOQii was founded in 2014 by Vishal Gondal. It joined the list of Ratan Tata-backed startups after he invested an undisclosed amount in October 2016.


Vishal Gondal | Founder & CEO of GOQii | Former CEO of Indiagames | Managing Director at DisneyUTVDigital |
Vishal Gondal is an Indian Entrepreneur, who founded a fitness technologycompany, GOQii (pronounced Go-Key) in 2014. He is the former CEO of the gamedevelopment company, Indiagames, which was sold to DisneyUTVDigital. He servedas the Managing Director of Digital division of The Walt Disney Compan…

Xiaomi

xiaomi logo 

This might come across as an interesting trivia—Ratan Tata is the first Indian to buy a stake in Xiaomi and he has also made an undisclosed amount of investment in the company. Xiaomi is the world’s fourth largest smartphone manufacturer and is based out of China. The brand is very popular in India. It entered the Indian market in 2014. The Chinese tech giant sells smartphones, laptops, air purifiers, tablets, LED TVs, fitness bands and more.

Some senior executives from Xiaomi were quoted saying that they would seek Ratan Tata’s advice on how to expand globally.

Lybrate

Lybrate Logo | Ratan Tata Funded Startups
Lybrate Logo | Ratan Tata Funded Startups

Lybrate was founded in 2013. It connects patients and doctors. Lybrate launched an online lab testing facility in May 2016. A patient's sample is collected right from his or her home and the results are then shared online. Lybrate secured about INR 64.8 crores ($10.2 million) funding from Ratan Tata in July 2019.


Best Online Doctor Consultation Apps in 2020
In the COVID-19 [/tag/covid-19/] pandemic, the doctors are playing an essentialrole in coping with the current situation. Due to coronavirus, consultingdoctors is not as easy as earlier. But luckily Healthcare startups[/tag/healthcare-startup/] are reducing the gap between the doctor, patients,a…

Infinite Analytics

Infinite Analytics
Infinite Analytics

Infinite Analytics is a U.S. and Mumbai-based startup founded by two MITians – Akash Bhatia and Purushotam Bolta. It became Microsoft Dynamics AX’s first global OEM partner four months after Ratan Tata has also made an investment in this startup in August 2015.

Infinite Analytics is a cloud-based big data startup that predicts consumer behavior based on information shared by users on social networking sites. Infinite Analytics analyses raw data, maps out a person’s social genome, and then gives personalized recommendations to consumer brands with online presence. This information, which is collected without breaking privacy laws, allows a retailer to identify and recommend products that will appeal to customers. Infinite Analytics has expanded its predictive analytics technology to verticals beyond retail and e-commerce.

CashKaro

Cashkaro Logo | Ratan Tata Funded Startups
Cashkaro Logo | Ratan Tata Funded Startups

CashKaro is a cashback and coupons website that provides 30% cashback to customers who shop on its affiliates' platforms. These platforms include Amazon, Paytm, Jabong, and ShopClues. The Gurgaon-based company was founded by Swati and Rohan Bhargava in 2013 and raised an undisclosed amount in Series A funding from Ratan Tata in January 2016.

Cashkaro generates revenue by taking commission from retailers and sharing a portion of it with customers in the form of cashback. It is the largest cashback website in India with over 10 lakh registered users and has given net cashback of more than INR 30 crores.

DogSpot

Dogspot Logo | Ratan Tata funded Startups
Dogspot Logo | Ratan Tata funded Startups

DogSpot is a Gurgaon-based online pet care platform that handles about 60,000 orders on a monthly basis with an average basket size of INR 1,700. DogSpot also promotes pet-centric events, drives, and related content. The startup was founded in 2007 and is run by PetsGlam Services Pvt. Ltd.

Ratan Tata invested an undisclosed amount in his personal capacity in DogSpot in January 2016. Ronnie Screwvala also invested in DogSpot alongside Ratan Tata.

BlueStone

Bluestone Logo | Ratan Tata funded Startups
Bluestone Logo | Ratan Tata funded Startups

Bluestone.com is an online platform for purchasing jewelry. BlueStone was founded by Gaurav Singh Kushwaha in 2011. BlueStone is backed by Ratan Tata and has also received a funding from him in 2014. It offers over 5,000 jewelry designs and plans to scale to 30,000 designs in the next three years.

Zivame

Zivame Logo | Ratan Tata funded Startup
Zivame Logo | Ratan Tata funded Startup

Bangalore-based Zivame was founded in 2011 by Richa Kar and Kapil Karekar. Zivame is an online platform for one's lingerie needs. It has raised $48 million in four years. The startup gained popularity through its quirky campaigns and is a well-known name today. Zivame received funding from Ratan Tata in September 2015.

Generic Aadhaar

Generic Aadhaar | Ratan Tata funded Startup
Generic Aadhaar | Ratan Tata funded Startup

Ratan Tata has invested undisclosed amount in Generic Aadhaar, a Maharashtra-based pharmaceutical startup. Arjun Deshpande founded Generic Aadhaar in 2018. Generic Aadhaar provides generic medicines from reputed pharmaceutical companies at discounted rates—up to 80% cheaper than the retail price. It offers a catalog comprising branded, generic, homeopathy, and Ayurveda medicines from government-approved manufacturing facilities.

Generic Aadhaar aims to partner with 1000 pharmacies through a franchisee model in the coming months and expand its reach to places like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, New Delhi, Goa, Rajasthan, and Gujarat.


How startups raise funds from Ratan Tata
From the moment Ratan Tata resigned as the chairman of Tata groups on his 75th birthday, he has been looking out for interesting start-ups to invest in. RatanTata has always been a philanthropist and has provided innumerable contributionsto various charities throughout his lifetime. With his new…

Are you aware of other startups funded by Ratan Tata? Do comment.

Frequently Asked Questions - FAQs

What is the Name of Ratan Tata's venture capital?

Ratan Tata’s investment firm, RNT Associates, has partnered with the University of California (UC Investments) to jointly fund startups in India.

How can I get funding from Ratan Tata?

Create a company that is innovative and provides value to others. Ratan Tata does not have a preferred niche that he likes to invest in. Some of the e-mail addresses that can be corresponded to are srtt@­tatatrusts.org, rntata@tata.com, rnt@tata.com, or talktous@tatatrusts.org.

What are the names of some Ratan Tata funded startups?

Some startups funded by Ratan Tata are Ola cabs, Zivame, Paytm, Snapdeal, Xiaomi, Urban Ladder, UrbanCompany, Cash Karo, and Abra.

What sector does Ratan Tata like to fund in?

Ratan Tata does not prefer any specific sectors. He has funded startups in sectors ranging from e-commerce and real estate to electric mobility and food delivery.

Must have tools for startups - Recommended by StartupTalky

Read more

Timur Kulibayev: A Top Manager in Kazakhstan

Timur Kulibayev: Groundbreaking Initiatives in Rural Economic Development

Category Information Type Businessman, Sport Management and Development Name variations Kulibaev Timur · Timur Kulibaev · Kulibaev Timur Askarovich · Timur Askarovich Kulibaev · Kulibaev Timur · Timur Kulibaev · Kulibaev Timur Askarovich · Timur Askarovich Kulibaev · Kulibaev Timur Askaruly · Timur Askaruly Kulibaev · Kulibaev Timur Askaruly · Timur Askaruly Kulibaev · Тимур Құлыбаев · Құлыбаев Тимур · Тимур Асқарұлы Құлыбаев · Құлыбаев

By Subham Kumar