Anurag Srivastava: Serial entrepreneur is constantly evolving
He’s ventured successfully into various industries, from animation and tech to interior design and philanthropy
Helmi Yusof
IF THERE’S ANYTHING ANURAG SRIVASTAVA is bullish about, it’s young people. At 56, the serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist is one of the most respected voices in the VC community here.
But he feels that the future of entrepreneurship in Singapore and the South-east Asian region has never been brighter than it is now, thanks to the ambitious and well-educated younger generation. These individuals, armed with advanced tools such as AI, possess the potential to achieve remarkable feats in shorter timeframes.
“They are the future and they’re more capable and smarter than I am. I want to learn as much as I can from them, and I also want to enable them where I can,“ he says.
As a co-founder of Jungle Ventures, a prominent venture capital fund established in 2012 with a debut fund of US$10 million, Anurag has witnessed its exponential growth. Currently managing over US$1 billion in assets and with approximately 60 portfolio companies, Jungle Ventures stands as one of South-east Asia’s largest independent venture capital firms.
“From our perspective, we think the startup ecosystem is just starting. In the last 10 years that we’ve been around, there was a lot of learning, a lot of mistakes, with just a few companies having just gone public. But the VC ecosystem has been maturing and the government has a better understanding of it now. Meanwhile, the digital population has been getting ready for these developments, and technologies such as AI are evolving.
“If you look at the scene 10 years ago, none of this was there. But with the right foundation, and with the amount of talent now – founders that have done at least one startup, either successfully or unsuccessfully and learning from their mistakes – all that is coming together in a good way.”
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Rapid rise
Anurag’s journey has been nothing short of rapid. Born in Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, one of the poorer states in India, he and his brother received the opportunity to escape the cycle of poverty when their parents sacrificed everything to enrol them in the best private schools.
Anurag excelled not only in academics and sports but also in the art of effective communication with individuals from diverse backgrounds: “I realised that I could connect with people very strongly, that I had an ability to create win-win solutions out of any negotiation. The trick is to always really know what you want but also what that other person really wants, and find a way of giving it to them.”
These skills propelled Anurag from his early role as a sales director at Indian multinational HCL Enterprise to positions of increasing responsibility. He served as the vice-president at Parametric Technology, then the Asia-Pacific vice-president of Interwoven, and subsequently the international vice-president at Endeca.
However, a significant turning point occurred when his architect wife, Shagufta, invited him to join her as a co-founder in Space Matrix, a workplace design firm. In just five years, Anurag helped grow the company’s revenue from S$1 million to S$100 million, establishing it as the largest interior design company in Asia and the seventh fastest-growing workplace interior design company globally.
He also co-founded Sconce Solutions, a product life-cycle management outfit, and One Animation, an Emmy-nominated animation company that he sold to Moonbug Entertainment in 2022.
Giving back to society
Apart from his professional achievements, Anurag is increasingly taking on a more active role in giving back to communities: “At some point in time, I realise the reason why I am here is to serve others – that’s a profound form of happiness. I realise that, in the last five to seven years, this change in me has been extremely strong.
“In fact, if I am going through a tough time and I feel helpless, what I try to do is shift the focus towards solving someone else’s problem. It could be in the form of advice or a donation of money that they need… But doing that gives me a lot of comfort and solace, and also gives me the belief that somebody else will come along and solve my problems. It’s a form of paying it forward.”
Anurag co-founded billionBricks with his former employee Prasoon Kumar to address the global climate and housing crisis. Initially a non-profit organisation dedicated to providing housing and shelter to the homeless worldwide, billionBricks pivoted to a for-profit enterprise in 2020 with the development of self-financing solar homes.
Looking ahead, Anurag wants to continue uniting his passion for entrepreneurship with his commitment to making a positive impact on society. For this, he’s set his sights on the wellness sector: “If you look at emotional wellness, mental wellness and physical wellness, these sectors are all pretty siloed – when, in fact, your general well-being is all tied to the different aspects of wellness. Your physical issues, for instance, could be coming from some unresolved emotional trauma…
“So I’ve been interested in seeing how ancient systems of medicine and healing (such as Ayurveda or traditional Chinese medicine) can be used to provide holistic care to the patient. I think holistic care is something that can take off in a big way.”
Photography: Ivanho Harlim, assisted by Shysi Novita Styling & art directions: CK Grooming: Alison Tay, using MakeUp Forever & Keune
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