Ratan Tata, the chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, who passed away on October 09, 2024 at the age of 86 is not just credited with developing the Tata conglomerate, but also for backing a series of startups across India.

India has also incidentally now become the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem.

Also Read: From the Indica to the Nano: How Ratan Tata transformed the Indian automotive landscape

Ratan Tata had invested in around 45 startups, according to a Moneycontrol report which cited data from markets data provider Tracxn, which incidentally is also a company backed by him.

His investments have also earned him huge returns. For example, Upstox delivered over 23,000%, Lenskart returned 28 times the investment, while Ola Electric and Firstcry which went public just this year, gave returns of 10 times and 450% respectively, according to the report.

The report quoted Kaushal Dugar, the founder of tea company Teabox as saying that Ratan Tata’s investment into his company in 2016 made it what it is, and not a “bunch of misfits trying to change something that’s been “working” for about 100 years,” which the traditional tea industry saw it as.

“Once Mr. Tata came onboard, literally everyone started taking us seriously in India and we got the much needed boost to grow,” the report quoted Dugar as saying.

Also Read: How Ratan Tata once moved Starbucks founder Howard Schultz to tears: ‘So much wisdom and insight’

Abhiraj Singh Bhal, the co-founder of Urban Company wrote in a post on X that Ratan Tata told him in their first meeting itself that “India needs what you are building, keep the quality high and the rest will follow”

The report also quoted Sudhir Sethi, founder and chairman of Chairatae Ventures as saying Ratan Tata, “for over six years including during Covid time, over zoom he gave time almost every time to me, founders of our portfolio and the Chiratae team. In every interaction what always stood out was humility , his curiosity to learn more about the startup ecosystem and his ability to advise on governance , integrity , strategy and more in every meeting.”

He added that he “never rushed for time and was liberal as a teacher, a student and a tall father figure to everyone.”

Also Read: Mukesh Ambani at top spot on Forbes India’s rich list again with $108 billion net worth

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