Mirae Asset Venture India appoints former Steadview Capital MD Puneet Kumar as CEO
Mirae Asset Venture India, the private investment arm of South Korea’s Mirae Asset Financial Group, has appointed Puneet Kumar as its CEO, according to a press release. Kumar was earlier managing director of Steadview Capital.
Mirae Asset Venture has backed startups such as stock-trading app Dhan, e-grocer BigBasket, logistics platform Shadowfax and social media company Sharechat, among others. The investment firm was led by Ashish Dave, who left in mid-2025.
Kumar is taking over the reins at a time when Mirae Asset Venture is looking to invest across sectors such as consumer, artificial intelligence and deeptech. Recently, South Korean gaming giant Krafton announced an India-focused technology fund in partnership with internet conglomerate Naver and Mirae Asset. “Given the India focus, a significant portion of this would be managed by the Mirae Asset Venture Investments team in India,” the company said in a statement on Thursday.
“As CEO, Puneet (Kumar) will be responsible for sharpening the investment strategy, deepening collaboration with Mirae Asset’s global venture businesses, and further strengthening the private investing unit’s position as a preferred partner for founders and co‑investors in India,” the statement said.
Mirae Asset’s private investing business in India had more than Rs 1,477 crore in assets under management as of November 30, 2025, across two vehicles. The company said it is looking to scale up this business in India in the coming years.
During Kumar’s tenure, Steadview Capital invested in over 30 private companies, including Eternal (then Zomato), Nykaa, Freshworks, Innovaccer, Chargebee, Ultrahuman, Atomberg, and MoEngage. During this time, Steadview Capital’s private portfolio also saw nine companies go public.
Prior to joining Steadview Capital in 2019, Kumar was a vice president at Nexus Venture Partners, where he worked on multiple portfolio companies, including software startups such as Observe.ai and Moveinsync, in addition to consumer companies such as urban mobility platform Rapido.
Kumar’s move to Mirae Asset Venture India is part of a long churn witnessed by the VC industry over last year, as ET had reported on December 30. Multiple senior partners exited their firms, including Peak XV Partners’ Shailesh Lakhani, Abheek Anand and Harshjit Sethi, as well as B Capital’s Kabir Narang, Z47 managing director Pranay Desai and General Catalyst’s Priya Mohan.
Several investment executives also jumped to other companies. This includes Cisco Investments senior director Pankaj Mitra, who joined Bessemer Venture Partners as a partner focusing on AI, enterprise technology and cybersecurity investments in India. Unilever executive vice president for corporate development Vikram Kumaraswamy also joined L Catterton as a partner, and co-head of India, in August.
Mirae Asset Venture has backed startups such as stock-trading app Dhan, e-grocer BigBasket, logistics platform Shadowfax and social media company Sharechat, among others. The investment firm was led by Ashish Dave, who left in mid-2025.
Kumar is taking over the reins at a time when Mirae Asset Venture is looking to invest across sectors such as consumer, artificial intelligence and deeptech. Recently, South Korean gaming giant Krafton announced an India-focused technology fund in partnership with internet conglomerate Naver and Mirae Asset. “Given the India focus, a significant portion of this would be managed by the Mirae Asset Venture Investments team in India,” the company said in a statement on Thursday.
“As CEO, Puneet (Kumar) will be responsible for sharpening the investment strategy, deepening collaboration with Mirae Asset’s global venture businesses, and further strengthening the private investing unit’s position as a preferred partner for founders and co‑investors in India,” the statement said.
Mirae Asset’s private investing business in India had more than Rs 1,477 crore in assets under management as of November 30, 2025, across two vehicles. The company said it is looking to scale up this business in India in the coming years.
During Kumar’s tenure, Steadview Capital invested in over 30 private companies, including Eternal (then Zomato), Nykaa, Freshworks, Innovaccer, Chargebee, Ultrahuman, Atomberg, and MoEngage. During this time, Steadview Capital’s private portfolio also saw nine companies go public.
Prior to joining Steadview Capital in 2019, Kumar was a vice president at Nexus Venture Partners, where he worked on multiple portfolio companies, including software startups such as Observe.ai and Moveinsync, in addition to consumer companies such as urban mobility platform Rapido.
Kumar’s move to Mirae Asset Venture India is part of a long churn witnessed by the VC industry over last year, as ET had reported on December 30. Multiple senior partners exited their firms, including Peak XV Partners’ Shailesh Lakhani, Abheek Anand and Harshjit Sethi, as well as B Capital’s Kabir Narang, Z47 managing director Pranay Desai and General Catalyst’s Priya Mohan.
Several investment executives also jumped to other companies. This includes Cisco Investments senior director Pankaj Mitra, who joined Bessemer Venture Partners as a partner focusing on AI, enterprise technology and cybersecurity investments in India. Unilever executive vice president for corporate development Vikram Kumaraswamy also joined L Catterton as a partner, and co-head of India, in August.
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