Mark Sherman and Gautam Patel are quitting Boston-based venture firm Battery Ventures' three-strong India investment team, leaving Silicon Valley-based partner Ramneek Gupta on his own.
Sherman, a Silicon Valley-based general partner who has led the firm’s push into India, came to the “mutual conclusion” with Battery Ventures that he would not be a GP in its upcoming Fund IX, according to a Battery Ventures spokeswoman.
Meanwhile Patel, a managing director, no longer wanted “to operate as the lone employee in Mumbai” and would leave “to seek other opportunities”, the spokeswoman added. Patel joined Battery Ventures in May last year.
Sherman and Patel will stay on with the firm through Fund VIII’s investment phase, which is expected to end in the first quarter of 2010. The fund closed on $750 million in 2008.
With Sherman’s departure, Battery Ventures will delay building its Mumbai team and will continue to invest in India from the US, with Gupta leading the investments. Sherman and Gupta have been investing in India via a commuter model since 2004.
Gupta had originally panned to relocate to Mumbai, together with Patel, in the latter half of 2008, PEI Asia reported in May 2008.
Battery Ventures’ previous four investments in India are payment processing company Tech Process; optical networking developer Tejas Networks; travel website Travelguru; and Indian credit bureau High Mark.
The firm has offices in Menlo Park, California, Waltham, Massachusetts and Tel Aviv.
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