Mahindra and Mahindra group is a well-reputed Indian multinational conglomerate.  Mahindra and Mahindra group was founded way back in the year 1945. The founders of the group are J. C. Mahindra and K. C. Mahindra, and Malik Ghulam Muhammad who started this group with the name of Mahindra and Mohammad. After the partition of India, Malik Ghulam Muhammad left the company and immigrated to Pakistan, then later in the year 1948, K.C. Mahindra changed the name From “Mohammad & Mahindra” to “Mahindra and Mahindra”.

Presently, the Mahindra group has marked its presence in a number of businesses such as steel, aerospace, commercial vehicles, components, defense, logistics, real estate, renewable energy, agribusiness, etc.  Mahindra & Mahindra is counted in the list of twenty largest companies in India. Mahindra group is not only known for its business vision but also for active participation through its K.C. Mahindra Trust in the field of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). Project Nanhi Kali (aimed for the education of young girls) and Mahindra Hariyali Campaign (aimed to plant one million trees) shows the active and extensive participation of the group in CSR activities.

Mr. Anand Mahindra is the chairman of Mahindra & Mahindra Group of India. Mahindra group has acquired a number of businesses such as Reva Electric Car Company, Satyam Computer Services, Aero staff Australia, Holiday Club Resorts, etc., and have also funded some startups which became highly successful in their respective field that shows the extraordinary vision of Mr. Anand Mahindra.

In this article, we are going to talk about some of the successful startups funded by Anand Mahindra which shows his farsightedness and extraordinary vision.

Startups funded by Mahindra Group are:

ZoomCar

Zoomcar was founded by David Back and Greg Moran in the year 2013. This self-drive car rental company is headquartered in Bangalore. In 2018, a huge amount of forty million dollars was invested by the Mahindra group in this car rental company. The company is successfully currently operating in 45 cities in India. The funding by the Mahindra group in this startup is a part of Mahindra’s strategy to promote sustainable mobility solutions.

SheThepeople

Shethepeople is a digital news website particularly focused on women. It was started in the year 2016 by Shaili Chopra, an Indian journalist. In 2016, the Mahindra group invested an undisclosed amount in this digital platform which shows the firm belief of Mr. Anand Mahindra in women’s leadership. The website which is dedicated to promoting the success stories of women has managed to reach 85 million women across the world.

NEST (Naandi Education Support & Training)

Naandi Education Support & Training also called NEST in short is a social impact company dedicated to providing education to the underprivileged children of society. The group owns and operate two high-quality learning center under the brand Alphabyte – The Learning Terminal. It aims to upgrade education quality and human capital resource of India following a unique education model Tech-N-Brick which involve using technology to track the progress of each student via customized learning modules. NEST secured Rs 4 crore in follow-on funding from Mr. Anand Mahindra and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation in the year 2017. NEST is now providing quality education to a number of cities across India.

Epic TV

After getting great success in several industries such as commercial vehicles, logistics, steel etc. Mr. Anand Mahindra marked its presence in the entertainment industry by purchasing 25.8% percent stakes in Epic TV. Epic TV channel dedicated to Indian history & mythology was launched by Epic Television Network Private Ltd in the year 2014. Later, MukeshAmbani, India’s richest man who also invested in this channel sold his share to Mr. Anand Mahindra.

With this epic transaction Mr. Mahindra became the sole owner of the epic channel as the third co-founder Mahesh Samant had also sold his stake to Mr Mahindra.

Thinkerbell Labs

Thinkerbell Labs is an innovative ed-tech startup that was founded in the year 2016 with an aim to eliminate low literacy among visually impaired people all over the world. Mr. Anand Mahindra invested in this startup in the year 2017 in his personal capacity. Annie which is the innovation of Thinkerbell labs is the world’s first braille literacy device that helps to educate visually impaired people by allowing them to read, write, and type in Braille.