Early-stage venture capital firm Unitus Ventures has onboarded Sanjiv Rangrass as Venture Partner and Raj Nooyi as Venture Advisor.
Rangrass will lead the firm’s investment strategy in the climate sector, a focus sector for a fund that Unitus will launch in early 2023. Nooyi joins as the Venture Advisor, and his global experience will help Unitus’ portfolio companies to scale globally, said the firm.
The firm said that Rangrass has had a career of four decades at ITC, where he joined as a trainee and eventually became the CEO of the company’s agribusiness unit before retiring in June 2022 as the conglomerate’s Group Head for R&D, Sustainability, and Projects. He is an active investor and mentor to start-ups, including unicorns such as Zetwerk and BlackBuck.
He also has a track record of making investments in various agritech start-ups such as Vegrow, Absolute Foods, Krishify, among others. He also invested in climate-focused companies like Metastable Materials, and Wastelink.
Nooyi brings 35 years of experience of working with technology and services companies such as Hewlett Packard, PRTM, Tata Consultancy Services, and IBM, where he led the design, development, and implementation of solutions to improve supply chains, accelerate product innovation and effect organisational change at a global level.
Surya Mantha, Managing Partner, Unitus Ventures said, “As a firm, we are excited to welcome them both. They will play a pivotal role in supporting our portfolio companies in their next phase of growth and international expansion. Rangrass’s extensive experience in agritech and sustainability will form the anchor for our investment strategy in the climate sector for our next fund. Nooyi brings deep global operating experience which will help our portfolio companies in their international expansion efforts.”