James Murdoch plans to raise $150 million from ultra rich to invest in Indian startups

• James Murdoch’s private equity firm looks to strengthen its investments in India
• It had previously invested in India edtech startups Doubtnut and Harappa as well as news aggregator Dailyhunt
• Murdoch is also launching a special purpose acquisition company in partnership with former Disney executive Uday Shankar

British-American billionaire James Murdoch is looking to raise $150 million from half a dozen ultra-rich family offices, in order to further expand its private equity firm Lupa Systems. Lupa Systems has made several investments across India and US, and plans to use the fund to expand its Indian portfolio.

The development was first reported by Bloomberg.

The New York and Mumbai-based equity firm’s portfolio includes Gurugram-based edtech startup Doubtnut, online learning platform Harappa Education and India’s first vernacular unicorn Dailyhunt. Notably, the former Morgan Stanley banker Nitin Kukreja is managing Lupa System’s operations in India.

Besides this, it has also invested in US-based robotics startup Kinema, media platform Vice Media AI-powered Virtual Artist platform Authentic Artists and synthetic data company Synthetaic. It has also invested in Norwegian drone technology company UBIQ Aerospace, Tribeca Film Festival and Art Basel.

Murdoch is the son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch. He had cut ties with his family’s media businesses such as News Corp and Fox Corp last year, after clashing over its editorial direction. He founded Lupa Systems in 2019 with $2 billion in proceeds from the $71 billion sale of most of the Murdoch family’s 21st Century Fox empire to Disney.

According to previous media reports, Lupa Systems, in partnership with former Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific Chairman Uday Shankar, is also planning to raise $345 million through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) for his new media and technology venture named Seven Island Inc.

Seven Island will focus on media, entertainment, consumer technology, healthcare and education industries in south and southeast Asia. The firm will lay particular focus on India.

“Lupa Systems set up its India presence less than two years ago and has already created a promising portfolio of technology investments. Partnering with Uday [Shankar], to build ambitiously for the long term, will take us to another level,” Nitin Kukreja, managing partner of Lupa Systems India, said in January 2021.


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