Anirudh A Damani

Director at Artha India Ventures

Speaker

Anirudh A. Damani is the Director at Artha India Ventures, the Damani family office under the Ashok Kumar Damani lineage, operating within Artha India Holdings, the trust that anchors the group’s investment platforms. A second-generation investor and fourth-generation entrepreneur, Anirudh brings over 15 years of experience in building and scaling a global investment portfolio across private markets.

At Artha India Ventures, he leads the family office’s capital allocation strategy, balancing stable, yield generating investments with high-growth equity opportunities. The platform combines long-term assets such as renewable energy and asset-backed lending with early and growth-stage venture investments, creating a disciplined and compounding approach to capital deployment.

Under his leadership, the broader Artha platform manages over ₹2,300 crore in assets and has backed more than 135 companies globally, with over 34 exits to date. The portfolio includes five unicorns and more than 12 companies valued above ₹2,000 crore, reflecting a consistent ability to identify and support category-defining businesses from early stages.

Early investments in companies such as OYO, Purplle, Beardo, Exotel, and Karza Technologies highlight the family office’s approach of backing founders early and staying invested through their growth journeys.

Anirudh has been instrumental in institutionalizing the family office’s venture investing strategy by building structured platforms such as Artha Venture Fund and the Artha Select Fund. The Select Fund, with a corpus of approximately ₹492 crore, is designed to double down on the top-performing ~15% of the portfolio, while Artha Venture Fund II, with a target corpus of ₹500 crore, serves as the group’s core early-stage investment vehicle.

A defining feature of the platform is its follow-on discipline. It deploys a smaller portion of capital at entry while reserving the majority for high-conviction investments, allowing Artha to build meaningful ownership in its best-performing companies over time. A growing share of the capital base today includes founders from within the portfolio, reflecting strong alignment and long-term partnerships.

Beyond investments, Anirudh has emerged as a thought leader on the global stage, speaking at high profile events hosted by Campden Family Connect in San Francisco, London, Mumbai, New York, and Switzerland. He has engaged audiences at institutions such as the Indian School of Business (London and Hyderabad), TiE Kerala, Kerala Angels, and the Middle East Investment Summit, offering perspectives on venture capital, family office models, and innovation. He has also been a featured voice at leading industry events, including IVCA, CapitalX, AngelX, and the Bharat Fintech Summit.

Anirudh’s vision is truly global. His investments span the USA, Israel, Africa, and India, generating an impressive 10x+ multiple on capital across the Artha portfolio. Beyond deal sheets and boardrooms, he remains an adventurer at heart. A double major from Austin College, Texas, Anirudh is passionate about cricket, deep-sea diving, skydiving, and chronicling his explorations on his personal blog