SoftBank India operating partner Vikas Agnihotri leaves fund

Vikas Agnihotri, an operating partner at SoftBank India, who worked closely with Paytm ahead of its public listing, has exited the technology-focused investment fund.

Agnihotri formally left SoftBank in September but his departure has come to light only now.

Prior to his SoftBank stint, he was an interim head for Google in India in 2020. His official designation there was managing director, sales, India.


The Mumbai-based executive had joined SoftBank in February 2020 as its first operating partner, to work with the fund’s portfolio firms. He sits on the board of FirstCry, Globalbees, and Inmobi. Agnihotri is expected to transition out of his board roles in the coming months, people in the know said. He resigned from Lenskart's board in September.

It is not clear if Agnihotri has taken on a new role yet.

When contacted, Agnihotri did not comment on his exit. SoftBank did not respond to an email query sent by ETtech.

Before his sojourn in Google, Agnihotri was the chief executive of Religare Macquarie Private Wealth Management. At Google, he is also believed to have worked closely with Rajan Anandan, now the managing director of Peak XV Partners, formerly Sequoia Capital India.

Sumer Juneja, managing partner, India & EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), at SoftBank Investment Advisers (SBIA), is the India head and also oversees its European unit. Juneja, along with investment directors Sarthak Misra and Narendra Rathi, recently completed five years at the Masayoshi Son-led Japanese group. Since Juneja set up the India team in 2018, Vision Fund-I and II have deployed more than $4 billion across 14-15 companies in India.

As the ongoing funding winter continues, big-ticket investors such as SoftBank and Tiger Global have largely refrained from placing new bets. ET reported on December 9, citing data from Tracxn, that funding in Indian startups fell to a seven-year low of $7 billion in calendar year 2023. This is less than one-third the estimated $25 billion received last year.