BS People: Kris Nair

Asteroid fanatic joins VC incubator

Early-stage venture capital firm IncuCapital, a group company of the BSE-listed private equity player IndiaCo Ventures Ltd, has appointed Kris Nair as a senior partner. Nair, a former advisor at the Indian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (IVCA), is an entrepreneur in private equity and defence systems.

Nair’s life as an entrepreneur started at the age of nine, when he sourced and sold science magazines (including SciAm) to his school friends, while other videogame-crazed kids were busy saving Mario’s girlfriend. Apart from his new stint at IncuCapital, he runs his own entrepreneurships through various firms such as Opdrage-a‘Mentor Capitalist’ and VC firm focusing on building and nurturing early stage ventures in technology and aerospace, where he is a general partner.

Back in 2010, he founded the Kerala Business Angels Network (an Rs 80 crore Angel Group) and since 2006 he’s been a mentor at National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN).

Before conceptualising Opdrage, Mr. Nair was heading the corporate strategy and development at Satellier Inc. where he helped ENR Top 500 engineering companies share advisory and transition strategies. As a co-founder, he was instrumental in Satellier’s business development strategy and global market entry & pricing strategy. He worked on diversified programs including market innovation, program management, product management, sales and M&A. Satellier is an investment portfolio of Sequoia Capital and Indian Angel Network.

He spends his free time teaching and enabling entrepreneurship at leading business / technology schools and tracking asteroids. Kris Nair learned the basics of applied physics from Kerala University, management from the Wharton School and Leadership from the Indian Military Academy.