Ratan Tata says he will support startups that have passionate founders

Tata group Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata, a serial start-up investor, today said he will support startups that have founders who have passion to build sustainable company rather than scaling it up just to sell it. Tata has been investing in startups in India and abroad. Some of these firms include Snapdeal, Urban Ladder, CarDekho, Xiaomi, Ola, DogSpot.in, CashKaro, FirstCry and Teabox.

“A founder who has a passion to stay with something and build it into a sustainable company is somebody I tend to support,” he said in an interview to CNBC TV18. He further said that a founder who wants to scale up a company just to sell it is not the one, obviously, you want to be with.

He said when he was the Chairman of Tata Sons, he could not take up investments in the startups as it would have conflicted with what Tatas were doing. “Now I am a free person and its invigorating to do this and I am meeting a lot of young people who one day will be the leaders of the industry,” Tata said.

Stressing upon the need to have vision, Tata said he would not invest in the business where he doesnt have any interest. “I am not going to invest in a business where I have no interest in, so the vision of the startup is important,” he said.