Private equity firm SAIF Partners has appointed Alok Goel, former CEO of FreeCharge, as managing director. Goel will look after early stage investing at the firm.
Goel said, “SAIF Partners has one of the finest portfolios in the industry today. I am excited to be a part of this team and leverage my experience in the Internet and mobile businesses to help early-stage companies become world-class businesses.,” Goel said on this occasion.
Before joining SAIF Partners, Goel worked with two big companies viz, redBus and Freecharge. While redBus is the number one online book ticketing website, Freecharge is also the biggest mobile recharge firm in India. Goel played the key role at redBus to launch its mobile app to drive more sales for the company.
redBus was acquired for over $100 million by South African media conglomerate Naspers in 2013. FreeCharge was acquired by Snapdeal for an estimated $400 million in cash and stock.
“Having built and scaled up successful internet companies, his experience will be very vital to our firm,” said Ravi Adusumalli, managing partner at SAIF Partners, which is looking to make more early stage deals in the range of Rs 6-10 crore.
Goel, a former Google Inc. engineer and product manager, was one of the first executives who returned to work in India’s start-up business from California, the nerve centre of technology-related activity.
SAIF Partners has investments in many big Indian companies, including Paytm, BookMyShow, Urbanladder, Zovi, Firstcry, and also companies like Sify. It took JustDial and MakeMyTrip.
