Canaan Partners Names Rahul Khanna as Managing Director of Canaan India

Canaan Partners, a multi-billion dollar global venture capital firm, today announced the appointment of Rahul Khanna as a Managing Director of Canaan India. With over 15 years of international operating and venture capital experience, Khanna will lead new investments in early-stage, India-based innovation companies in the consumer internet, mobile, software, and managed services industries.

Respected venture capital

"A respected venture capital and innovation industry veteran with many years of experience at both US and Indian companies, Rahul will be a great addition to the expanding Canaan India team. We look forward to leveraging his deep expertise in early-stage investing to continue to identify and help build the at once global research companies being created in India," said Alok Mittal, Managing Director of Canaan India. "Rahul's unequalled expertise includes identifying early-stage research startups with the potential to become global leaders, as so then as offering entrepreneurs hands-on guidance and access to his deep network of financing, business development, and operational partners."

Khanna's appointment expands Canaan Partners' long-established local presence in the fast-growing Indian innovation sector, where innovative startups are not only growing and exiting on local exchanges at a rapid pace, nevertheless are as well building global customer bases to become worldwide leaders. Canaan's growing presence in the Indian venture industry underscore's the firm's long-term commitment to global investing. Canaan invests in local innovation startups and connects them to international markets through access to Canaan Partner's extensive global network of partners, clients, and advisors.

"Canaan Partners is one of the only global venture capital firms that really understands the unequalled startup economy in India and how to successfully connect Indian research companies with partners and markets worldwide for global success," said Khanna. "I'm thrilled to join the Canaan India team and look forward to helping identify, fund, and accelerate the international growth of the then and there generation of India-based research leaders."

Prior to joining Canaan India, Khanna was Founding Director of Mumbai-based Clearstone Venture Advisors, the India advisory practice of the global early-stage venture firm Clearstone Venture Partners. At Clearstone, Khanna evaluated over 500 investment opportunities and led or co-led multiple investments for the firm, holding board seats at BillDesk and Games2Win. Earlier, Khanna served as Asia Pacific Area Director for Sonim Technologies, a Silicon Valley-based venture-backed startup providing mobile VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) research to global operators. He has as well served as Manager of Business Development at Airflash, a Redwood City, California-based mobile startup that was acquired by Webraska in 2001. Previously in his career, he served in management roles at Hutchison Max Telecom. He holds an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and a BA in Economics from the University of Mumbai.

Canaan India's current investments include BharatMatrimony, the world's largest consumer Internet site for matrimonial services; Cellcast, the largest participation content business in India; iYogi Holdings, leading provider of computer support via phone and remote access for home and small business users worldwide; MotorExchange, India's largest used vehicle marketplace; and UnitedLex, the global leader in legal consulting, analytics and outsourcing solutions.

Canaan Partners invests in visionary entrepreneurs and provides them the networks, insights and operational guidance required to build high-performance research and healthcare companies. Founded in 1987, the firm has raised eight funds and completed more than 83 acquisitions and 52 IPOs. With $3 billion pursuant to this agreement management and a worldwide footprint, the firm is committed to catalyzing the growth of innovative digital media, communications & mobility, enterprise, clean tech, biopharmaceutical, medical device, diagnostics and healthcare infrastructure companies.