Karan Mohla

Background

Karan Mohla is a General Partner at B Capital Group, where he co-leads the South and Southeast Asia investment team ¹. He is based between Singapore and New Delhi ¹.

Mohla holds a BBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and an MBA from INSEAD (2008–2010) ¹². Before entering venture capital, he worked in the technology banking group at Jefferies & Company in Silicon Valley, where he was a founding team member of the firm’s India office ¹². He subsequently moved to QVT Finance LP, a U.S.-based hedge fund ¹.

He joined Chiratae Ventures (formerly IDG Ventures India) where he served as Partner and Executive Director for approximately a decade ¹². At Chiratae, he invested in more than 30 companies across ecommerce, healthcare, SaaS/B2B, logistics, ed-tech, agri-tech, and gaming, including FirstCry, Xpressbees, GoodGlam Group, HealthifyMe, and CropIn — companies that cumulatively raised over $1 billion ¹². He also served on the boards of Bounce, HealthifyMe, LittleBlackBook, POPxo, and Tripoto during this period ³.

Mohla joined B Capital Group in January 2022 as Partner, and was promoted to General Partner in January 2023 ³. He has been recognized as one of 40 Under 40 leaders by Business World Magazine and as one of 40 Under 40 Alternate Investment Professionals by the Indian Association of Alternative Investment Funds (IAAIF) ¹⁴.

Stated Thesis

Mohla publicly focuses on early-stage technology investments in India and Southeast Asia across five broad sectors: enterprise software/SaaS, healthcare technology, financial services, climate tech, and consumer enablement ⁵⁶.

In a June 2022 article co-authored with B Capital colleague Deepanshu Pattanayak, Mohla emphasized that “India is undergoing a digital revolution, rapidly catching up with its global peers over the last five years,” and that “capital is a commodity and great founders operating in deeper markets will eventually find access to the right type of capital” ⁵. The article highlights internet penetration rising from 17% (2017) to over 50% (2021) and 42 new Indian unicorns in 2021 alone as structural tailwinds ⁵.

On Southeast Asia, B Capital has stated the region’s digital economy is projected to exceed $330 billion by 2025 and that accelerating internet adoption — 20 million new users in 2022 alone — creates opportunity in consumer enablement, B2B digitization, fintech, digital health, and climate/sustainability solutions ⁶.

More recently, Mohla has flagged AI and robotics partnerships as a specific priority. He stated in a 2025 interview that the venture landscape has shifted from “growth at all costs” to a focus on “resilience and real utility,” and that B Capital is actively seeking AI and robotics investment opportunities across Asia ⁷.

Inferred Thesis

The following analysis is based on 10 verified investments attributable to Mohla at B Capital since joining in January 2022. This is a small sample (his total B Capital portfolio is not fully public); qualitative patterns are more reliable than the percentages given this sample size. His Chiratae Ventures portfolio (30+ companies) is described separately as context.

Sector Distribution (10 verified B Capital investments)

• Healthtech / Digital Health: 2 companies (20%) — Sugar.fit, Nektar.ai
• EV / Climate Tech: 2 companies (20%) — Turno, Accacia
• Edtech: 1 company (10%) — Bhanzu
• Robotics / Physical AI: 1 company (10%) — Eureka Robotics
• Enterprise SaaS: 1 company (10%) — Nektar.ai (also classifiable here; counted once under Healthtech for this breakdown)
• Automotive / Used Cars: 1 company (10%) — Carro (B Capital invested pre-Mohla joining, but listed on his profile page)

Note: B Capital’s profile page lists Bhanzu, Sugar.fit, MoEngage, Turno, Nektar, Carro, Eureka Robotics, FirstCry, Xpressbees, and HealthifyMe as investments associated with Mohla ¹. FirstCry, Xpressbees, and HealthifyMe are Chiratae-era investments; MoEngage was a B Capital investment authored by colleague Kabir Narang. With 10 unique companies attributable to B Capital, the sample is too small for reliable sector percentages — the qualitative patterns below are the stronger signal.

Stage Distribution

Mohla operates across seed through Series A/B in India and Southeast Asia. Verified deal sizes include a $2.5M seed (Accacia), $6–8M seed (Nektar.ai), $13.8M Series A (Turno), $15M Series A (Bhanzu), $5M extended Series A (Sugar.fit), and $10.5M Series A (Eureka Robotics) ^89101112. This is consistent with B Capital’s stated early-stage focus in the region, with check sizes typically ranging from $5M to $15M per round.

Geographic Focus

Exclusively India and Southeast Asia. India-based companies dominate verified investments (Turno, Bhanzu, Sugar.fit, Accacia, Nektar.ai), with Singapore-based Eureka Robotics and Carro representing Southeast Asian exposure ^8910111213. Mohla splits his time between New Delhi and Singapore to reflect this dual geography ¹.

Founder Profile Patterns

Mohla has shown a strong preference for founder-market fit: he cited Accacia founder Annu Talreja’s deep real estate industry experience as a key investment driver ¹⁴, and Bhanzu founder Neelakantha Bhanu’s unique credibility as the world’s fastest human calculator as “irresistible” ¹⁰. At Chiratae, he noted that the founders who scaled fastest “surround themselves with the best people from early on” ³.

Co-investor Patterns

Verified co-investors in B Capital deals led by or prominently including Mohla: Quona Capital (Turno), Accel (Accacia), Eight Roads Ventures (Bhanzu), Nexus Venture Partners (Nektar.ai), 3one4 Capital (Nektar.ai), Tanglin Venture Partners, Endiya Partners, MassMutual Ventures (Sugar.fit), Airbus Ventures (Eureka Robotics) ^8910111213.

Sector Gaps

Despite B Capital’s stated interest in B2B fintech and Web3/DeFi ⁵, no publicly verified Mohla investments in fintech or crypto have been identified as of this writing. Climate tech is a stated focus and visible in the portfolio (Accacia, Turno), but remains a small proportion of verified deals. Consumer-facing businesses appear predominantly through the lens of health or education rather than pure consumer tech.

Portfolio

Note: Chiratae-era investments (FirstCry, Xpressbees, HealthifyMe, CropIn) are included for biographical completeness but do not reflect Mohla’s B Capital thesis. Years for Chiratae investments are approximate founding/known investment years; exact dates not independently verified. This table represents approximately 10 publicly confirmed B Capital investments out of a portfolio that may be significantly larger.

In Their Own Words

On India’s healthcare opportunity and Sugar.fit:

“India faces the challenge of managing a dual disease burden, marked by the increasing prevalence of chronic care conditions, notably diabetes. Despite significant investments in healthcare, we continue to grapple with the enduring challenges of access, affordability, and quality, known as the ‘Iron Triangle.’ Under the leadership of Madan and Shivtosh, Sugar.fit is dedicated to fostering sustainable healthcare outcomes, supported by a comprehensive approach to distribution across multiple channels and outstanding growth metrics. We are genuinely enthusiastic about the company’s journey ahead and its ambitious vision to establish India’s premier integrated chronic healthcare platform.” ¹²

On the Turno investment and India’s EV ecosystem:

“Commercial EV sales are heavily dependent on the availability of attractive financing options and today the Indian market is plagued by lack of truly customer-centric options. Turno has identified a key missing element in the ecosystem that solves the problem of financing as well as distribution and servicing. As a technology enabled omni-channel platform, especially at a time while EV sales are inflecting and climate-tech enabling solutions are fast evolving, we are excited to partner with Hemanth and Sudhindra in their vision to build Turno and transform the landscape of India’s EV market.” ⁸

On the Accacia investment and climate tech in real estate:

“With the impact of climate change becoming increasingly tangible, the real estate industry is at an inflection point. The entire industry including how we design, construct, operate and even value assets is being impacted by climate change and needs to evolve. We strongly believe in Accacia’s approach of a global sector focused platform based on our extensive work and found great founder-market-fit with Annu’s extensive experience in the industry.” ¹⁴

On Eureka Robotics and physical AI:

“Eureka Robotics is at the forefront of the next wave of embodied AI and industrial automation, combining HA-HA robotics with advanced mechanics and data science. [We are] excited to partner with the Eureka team to drive their global expansion as they redefine the possibilities of industrial automation.” ¹³

On Bhanzu and founder-market fit:

“The combination of the market opportunity and a math prodigy who has the business acumen and awareness well beyond his years, is irresistible.” ¹⁰

On B Capital’s early-stage investment philosophy in India:

“Capital is a commodity and great founders operating in deeper markets will eventually find access to the right type of capital.” ⁵

On the role of the investor:

“The fundamental rule of being a venture investor and definitely for a founder is ‘you have to embrace the uncertainty.’ You don’t know six months later whether the company would be there, but the investor should always strive to figure out ways that can help the company continue or thrive.” ³

On founder traits that drive scale:

“It is the founder who ultimately makes the journey. Among founders who scale faster, the commonality is that they surround themselves with the best people from early on and figure out what problem they are solving — and if it doesn’t work, use another approach.” ³

What Founders Say

Hemanth Aluru, Co-founder and CEO of Turno, on the B Capital partnership at Series A (February 2023):

“[We are] looking forward to a deep partnership with new investors Karan Mohla and Deepanshu Pattanayak [at B Capital].” ⁸

Madan Somasundaram, Co-founder and CEO of Sugar.fit, on B Capital joining as lead investor in the extended Series A (March 2024):

“We are grateful to have B Capital join hands with us at Sugar.fit and for the trust and support our existing investors have in us. Health habits of consumers have changed over the past few years and the need for a new tech-driven approach is paramount for sustainable health outcomes.” ¹²

Note: No independently sourced founder testimonials about Mohla’s post-investment support style or board conduct were found beyond the above funding-announcement statements.

Sources