Maninder Gulati
About Maninder Gulati
Maninder Gulati is a former Global Chief Strategy Officer at OYO Hotels. Before OYO he was a Principal at Lightspeed Advisory Services India, which he joined in 2012, and an Associate at McKinsey & Company. At McKinsey he worked on growth strategy engagements in financial services, organized retail, digital music, data centers and building security.
Earlier he co-founded lifeinlines.com, a voice-based platform for keeping a digital diary, and worked at ITC Limited. At ITC he was part of the team that launched the personal care business. He holds a dual B.Tech and M.Tech in Chemical Engineering from IIT Bombay, and Tracxn lists a master's degree from the Indian School of Business.
PitchBook lists him as a Venture Partner at Bharat Founders Fund and an advisor to Crux and Good Capital (India). Meteor Venture, an angel network, lists him as a mentor. His X profile gives his location as Singapore.
Data providers count his portfolio differently. PitchBook shows 51 investments and 11 exits, Crunchbase shows about 40 investments, and Tracxn shows more than 100 portfolio companies. Treat these as rough indicators, not a verified total.
PitchBook records his latest investment as Dazzl on 13 January 2026. Tracxn dates recent rounds he took part in to Peeko (seed, August 2025), Dodo Payments (seed, February 2025), Fabrito (January 2024) and Jodaro (November 2023). Crunchbase lists him as an investor in Peeko, Bachatt, Dodo Payments, Fabrito, Jodaro, altM, Finsire, Vetic and CloudFeather Games.
The portfolio is mostly pre-seed and seed rounds in Indian startups. Sectors that recur include consumer products, fintech, gaming and digital entertainment, health and B2B software. One investor database (Mysa) lists his check size as under $100k. That figure is not confirmed by Gulati himself, and I found no public statement from him about what he looks for.
- Peeko: seed round, August 2025 (Tracxn)
- Dodo Payments: pre-seed or seed round, 2025 (Crunchbase, Tracxn)
- Fabrito: pre-seed round, January 2024 (Crunchbase, Tracxn)
- Jodaro: seed round, November 2023 (Crunchbase, Tracxn)
- Dazzl: most recent investment per PitchBook, January 2026
- Bachatt, altM, Finsire, Vetic: seed rounds listed on Crunchbase
- Bombay Shaving Company, Zetwerk, BabyChakra, Yellow Class, Grip Invest, inFeedo: past investments listed by AngelMatch
- pitchbook.com/profiles/investor/163906-93
- crunchbase.com/person/maninder-gulati
- tracxn.com/d/people/maninder-gulati/__enGCZEGOnsWI8gP2qDF1MWzvF7kwE2lk
- mysa.io/investor-database/maninder-gulati
- meteorventure.com/about-us
- najafi.capital/individual-investor/individual-angel-maninder-gulati
- angelmatch.io/investors/maninder-gulati
- x.com/maninderg13
Investing activity
Maninder Gulati is listed on Lounge as an angel investor. The deals desk records Series A and later AI rounds and seeds over $10M, so smaller checks may not show here yet.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Maninder Gulati
Is Maninder Gulati an AI angel investor?
He is an active angel investor, but the sources I found do not describe a specific AI thesis. His listed investments span consumer, fintech, gaming and B2B software.
What stage does Maninder Gulati invest in?
His recorded deals are mostly pre-seed and seed rounds, and Mysa lists those two stages as his focus.
What check size does Maninder Gulati write?
He has not publicly stated a check size. The Mysa investor database lists under $100k, but that is third-party data.
Where is Maninder Gulati based and what does he back geographically?
His X profile lists Singapore. Crunchbase and AngelMatch list Gurgaon, India. Most of his recorded investments are in Indian startups.
What is Maninder Gulati's background?
He was Global Chief Strategy Officer at OYO Hotels and earlier a Principal at Lightspeed Advisory Services India. Before that he worked at McKinsey and ITC and co-founded lifeinlines.com. PitchBook also lists him as a Venture Partner at Bharat Founders Fund.
Is Maninder Gulati an angel investor?
Yes. Maninder Gulati invests personally as an angel.
How can founders reach Maninder Gulati?
Founders on Lounge can see Maninder Gulati's contact details in AI Investor Contacts (paid plans), check for a warm introduction through members who worked with them under Warm Paths, and add Maninder Gulati to their Investor Pipeline to track the conversation.