Private Equity Professionals

NEA advances general partner for Indian operations

The Silicon Valley venture firm has promoted Ravi Viswanathan to general partner for energy, IT and India-focused investments, and appointed Frank Torti as principal focused on investments in healthcare.

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Global venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has promoted Ravi Viswanathan to general partner. Viswanathan is based in Menlo Park and is focused on energy and growth equity IT investments and the firm’s activities in India.

The firm has also promoted Frank Torti from managing director to principal. Torti, who joined NEA in 2007, is focused on private and public investing activities within the venture firm’s healthcare practice.

Viswanathan joined the firm in 2004. He is currently a member in the boards of Availink, Deeya Energy, ISGN Technologies, Jentro Technologies, Solar Junction, Suniva, and ViXS, the firm said in a statement. He also works closely with companies in NEA’s energy technology portfolio.

Prior to working at NEA, Viswanathan worked at Goldman Sachs, where he was co-head of the private equity group’s technology practice, leading direct, fund, and secondary investments in the areas of IT and life sciences. Before Goldman, he worked for consulting firm McKinsey & Company, advising clients in the software, communications and pharmaceutical sectors.

Torti formerly worked for the Duke University Centre for Clinical & Genetic Economics, where he was engaged in economic evaluations of multinational clinical trials. He has also worked with Wasatch Advisors mutual fund family and consumer-directed healthcare startup Revolution Health Group.

NEA makes mid- to late-stage investments in India. It also invests indirectly in the country through NEA-IndoUS, a venture capital firm focused on technology and technology-enabled services. NEA has seven members of its management team for India based in India and another four in Menlo Park.

Last month, NEA invested INR 650 million ($13.5 million; €9.2 million) in New Delhi-based RT Outsourcing Services for an undisclosed stake. In the month before, an industry source confirmed to PEI Asia that NEA and Jacob Ballas Capital India were in early stage talks to buy The Carlyle Group's stake in Chennai-headquartered Financial Software & Systems.

Founded in 1978, NEA manages about $8.5 billion in committed capital and has invested in more than 650 companies. In India, the firm has offices in Mumbai and Bangalore.