It was wonderful catching up with Sanil Sachar, founder of Huddle Ventures, at the DLF Golf Club. This was our third face-to-face meeting; the first goes back to when Huddle was just being set up. Huddle was co-founded by Ishaan Khosla.
I have known his father, Sanjiv Sachar, for over 20 years—we qualified as Chartered Accountants back in the early 1980s. Sanil was introduced to me by him about seven years ago. Like his father and grandfather, Justice Sachar, Sanil carries a deep sense of purpose and values.
He is among the few investors who assign significant weight to a founder’s purpose and values, believing that these traits drive long-term outcomes. Huddle is known not only for its sharp investment thesis but also for proactively supporting founders, including helping hire key resources to strengthen alignment between the founder and company values.
Their focus began with retail and consumer brands but has since diversified across sectors. Fund I (₹50 crore) was fully deployed and saw strong follow-on rounds and partial exits within a few years. Fund II (₹150 crore) is being deployed across consumer, fintech, health, and agri-tech sectors.
Personally, I have invested in Wellversed and New Shop on Sanil’s referral—both companies have demonstrated agility, navigated pivots successfully, and are now creating meaningful value for all stakeholders.
We agreed to explore synergies in startups, and I offered to share my insights whenever required—my way of repaying my Rishi Rin, the debt of knowledge, and paying it forward.
I also had the joy of presenting my book Dil Se Dost to Sanil, a small token of friendship and shared purpose.
