As a woman and successful emerging manager, Alka Goel stands out as an inspiration for other women trying to make their mark in an industry long dominated by men.
Goel is the founding partner of Alkemi Growth Capital, which she launched in 2017 to invest in healthcare start-ups in India. The New Delhi-based firm began raising raising its sophomore fund in January and has held a first close on about $50 million out of a targeted $75 million.
Venture Capital Journal asked Goel to share her story and the lessons she has learned in her relatively new career as a venture capitalist.
“One thing I’ve learned as I’ve been raising my fund is trusting the process,” she tells VCJ. “Some things may not fall in place when you want them to. Even when you’re investing in companies, you may have a vision. But, some may take twists and turns, some may get there, some may work exactly opposite to your thesis.”
Learning to compete
Born in the Palia Kalan Kheri municipality of Northern India, Goel was sent to boarding school at the age of four in the remote hills near the country’s border with Nepal. She moved west to Delhi for high school, where she was “first exposed to the competitive world.” While she had no idea of what she wanted to do, she decided to major in economics at the Lady Shri Ram College for Women just because it was considered one of the institution’s toughest topics of study.
Goel worked a few odd jobs during her time in college, including managing events and promotions at Apra Motels in New Delhi and a brief stint as a talk show host interviewing fashion and music celebrities before deciding to pursue an MBA at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, which The Financial Times has described as one of the top MBA programs in the world. After graduating with her MBA at the age of 22, Goel joined McKinsey & Co and began her professional career.
“In business school I got more exposure, and a lot of folks I looked up to wanted to get into McKinsey, so honestly I just rolled with the punches, learnt at every stage, and the plans developed,” she tells VCJ. “I loved working hard, it’s very natural to me, and I loved the experience at McKinsey. I hadn’t really travelled so I used their platform to do that – London, Dubai, Turkey, Russia, doing work, and at the core of it was people. You realize that the motivations of people are similar: achievement, envy, progress, all sorts of emotions. You may wear different clothes, you may eat different foods, but the emotions are very similar.”
Goel moved to the consulting firm’s New York office after a few years, which she said “really accelerated my understanding of human behavior even more.”
Career shift
After a 17-year career in the firm’s healthcare and private equity practice, most recently serving as a senior partner, Goel was ready for a change.
“It was not a mid-life crisis; those come from a position of weakness,” she explains. “Mine wasn’t, ‘I’m dissatisfied.’ Mine was, ‘Hey, I have such a good platform, what’s next?’”
She credits the Japanese philosophy of Ikigai, which translates to “reason for being,” as the main force behind her next move. “It talks about when you’re figuring out what you want to do, you have to figure out what you like, what you’re good at and where there’s opportunity,” she says.
“Because [India’s venture] industry was so young, most of the VCs were sector agnostic, so I thought there was an opportunity for a sector-focused fund in India as the entrepreneurial ecosystem was getting stronger. I’d accumulated a lot of domain knowledge as a partner in healthcare and private equity at McKinsey, and I saw data from Cambridge Associates that said focused-funds in the US have created higher IRRs. It was simply putting data, analytics, desire, ambition and the yearning to be back in my country that led me to do this.”
After founding Alkemi, Goel was quickly joined by partner Mansi Aggarwal, an MD and former medical technology entrepreneur who holds a master’s degree in business law from the National Law School of India and an MBA from the University of Cambridge.
Alkemi closed its debut fund in 2018 and built a portfolio of nine companies, two of which it has since exited. The firm invested in the $3 million Series A round of fertility and reproductive healthcare clinic Elawoman in 2018 and later sold its stake on the secondary market. It also invested in the $4.7 million Series A round of healthcare digitization platform Doxper in 2019, which was acquired by Indian healthcare clinic operator Meddo for an undisclosed amount in 2021.
The LP pitch
Goel declined to name investors in Alkemi Venture Fund II, but notes that 90 percent are institutional investors, including “endowments, pensions funds and corporate pharmaceutical companies.”
Affiliate title Private Equity International reports that Fund II’s LPs include Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois, which committed $5 million, and the Small Industries Development Bank of India, which committed an undisclosed amount. The International Finance Corporation is also mulling an investment. Its staff has recommended a commitment of $10 million to the fund and $5 million for co-investment, subject to approval at its October 9 board meeting, IFC documents state.
Fund II plans to make 15 to 18 investments and has already completed four. Its first investment was in pharmaceutical distribution technology company Saveo, while its other investments include emergency medical service platform Medulance, children’s food and nutrition company Slurrp Farm, and an unnamed liquid biopsy company. Fund II expects to close its fifth deal this month.
Goel says that while fundraising is never easy, the processes for Fund I and Fund II have each had their own unique set of challenges.
“I don’t think fundraising is ever a cakewalk for anyone. With a few exceptions, it just takes time,” she says. “You’ve got both headwinds and tailwinds, and at both points those are different. Fund I was just me. I didn’t have data. You either believed in me or you didn’t. Now you can think of me like a Series A start-up – there’s both potential and some data. When I was raising Fund I nobody knew me, and the question was, ‘Can I manage a fund?’ The questions now are, ‘Can I get DPI?’ ‘Can I get large enough?’ It’s a different set of challenges.”
Alkemi’s narrow focus on healthcare has been helpful in setting it apart. “If you’re the 112th fund in India with no focus, people won’t remember you, so our positioning really helps,” she tells VCJ. “People like the clarity we have. We don’t sway with the wind.”
As for her firm’s name, Goel says she wanted something meaningful and though it would take a long time to decide, but in reality it took “like five minutes” to decide on Alkemi, which is a play on her name and alchemy.
“I invited a friend from business school over for dinner to help me come up with a name and The Alchemist [a novel by Paulo Coelho] was on my coffee table,” she says. “If you really want something the universe conspires.”
As a woman and successful emerging manager, Alka Goel stands out as an inspiration for other women trying to make their mark in an industry long dominated by men.
Goel is the founding partner of Alkemi Growth Capital, which she launched in 2017 to invest in healthcare start-ups in India. The New Delhi-based firm began raising raising its sophomore fund in January and has held a first close on about $50 million out of a targeted $75 million.
Venture Capital Journal asked Goel to share her story and the lessons she has learned in her relatively new career as a venture capitalist.
“One thing I’ve learned as I’ve been raising my fund is trusting the process,” she tells VCJ. “Some things may not fall in place when you want them to. Even when you’re investing in companies, you may have a vision. But, some may take twists and turns, some may get there, some may work exactly opposite to your thesis.”
Learning to compete
Born in the Palia Kalan Kheri municipality of Northern India, Goel was sent to boarding school at the age of four in the remote hills near the country’s border with Nepal. She moved west to Delhi for high school, where she was “first exposed to the competitive world.” While she had no idea of what she wanted to do, she decided to major in economics at the Lady Shri Ram College for Women just because it was considered one of the institution’s toughest topics of study.
Goel worked a few odd jobs during her time in college, including managing events and promotions at Apra Motels in New Delhi and a brief stint as a talk show host interviewing fashion and music celebrities before deciding to pursue an MBA at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, which The Financial Times has described as one of the top MBA programs in the world. After graduating with her MBA at the age of 22, Goel joined McKinsey & Co and began her professional career.
“In business school I got more exposure, and a lot of folks I looked up to wanted to get into McKinsey, so honestly I just rolled with the punches, learnt at every stage, and the plans developed,” she tells VCJ. “I loved working hard, it’s very natural to me, and I loved the experience at McKinsey. I hadn’t really travelled so I used their platform to do that – London, Dubai, Turkey, Russia, doing work, and at the core of it was people. You realize that the motivations of people are similar: achievement, envy, progress, all sorts of emotions. You may wear different clothes, you may eat different foods, but the emotions are very similar.”
Goel moved to the consulting firm’s New York office after a few years, which she said “really accelerated my understanding of human behavior even more.”
Career shift
After a 17-year career in the firm’s healthcare and private equity practice, most recently serving as a senior partner, Goel was ready for a change.
“It was not a mid-life crisis; those come from a position of weakness,” she explains. “Mine wasn’t, ‘I’m dissatisfied.’ Mine was, ‘Hey, I have such a good platform, what’s next?’”
She credits the Japanese philosophy of Ikigai, which translates to “reason for being,” as the main force behind her next move. “It talks about when you’re figuring out what you want to do, you have to figure out what you like, what you’re good at and where there’s opportunity,” she says.
“Because [India’s venture] industry was so young, most of the VCs were sector agnostic, so I thought there was an opportunity for a sector-focused fund in India as the entrepreneurial ecosystem was getting stronger. I’d accumulated a lot of domain knowledge as a partner in healthcare and private equity at McKinsey, and I saw data from Cambridge Associates that said focused-funds in the US have created higher IRRs. It was simply putting data, analytics, desire, ambition and the yearning to be back in my country that led me to do this.”
After founding Alkemi, Goel was quickly joined by partner Mansi Aggarwal, an MD and former medical technology entrepreneur who holds a master’s degree in business law from the National Law School of India and an MBA from the University of Cambridge.
Alkemi closed its debut fund in 2018 and built a portfolio of nine companies, two of which it has since exited. The firm invested in the $3 million Series A round of fertility and reproductive healthcare clinic Elawoman in 2018 and later sold its stake on the secondary market. It also invested in the $4.7 million Series A round of healthcare digitization platform Doxper in 2019, which was acquired by Indian healthcare clinic operator Meddo for an undisclosed amount in 2021.
The LP pitch
Goel declined to name investors in Alkemi Venture Fund II, but notes that 90 percent are institutional investors, including “endowments, pensions funds and corporate pharmaceutical companies.”
Affiliate title Private Equity International reports that Fund II’s LPs include Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois, which committed $5 million, and the Small Industries Development Bank of India, which committed an undisclosed amount. The International Finance Corporation is also mulling an investment. Its staff has recommended a commitment of $10 million to the fund and $5 million for co-investment, subject to approval at its October 9 board meeting, IFC documents state.
Fund II plans to make 15 to 18 investments and has already completed four. Its first investment was in pharmaceutical distribution technology company Saveo, while its other investments include emergency medical service platform Medulance, children’s food and nutrition company Slurrp Farm, and an unnamed liquid biopsy company. Fund II expects to close its fifth deal this month.
Goel says that while fundraising is never easy, the processes for Fund I and Fund II have each had their own unique set of challenges.
“I don’t think fundraising is ever a cakewalk for anyone. With a few exceptions, it just takes time,” she says. “You’ve got both headwinds and tailwinds, and at both points those are different. Fund I was just me. I didn’t have data. You either believed in me or you didn’t. Now you can think of me like a Series A start-up – there’s both potential and some data. When I was raising Fund I nobody knew me, and the question was, ‘Can I manage a fund?’ The questions now are, ‘Can I get DPI?’ ‘Can I get large enough?’ It’s a different set of challenges.”
Alkemi’s narrow focus on healthcare has been helpful in setting it apart. “If you’re the 112th fund in India with no focus, people won’t remember you, so our positioning really helps,” she tells VCJ. “People like the clarity we have. We don’t sway with the wind.”
As for her firm’s name, Goel says she wanted something meaningful and though it would take a long time to decide, but in reality it took “like five minutes” to decide on Alkemi, which is a play on her name and alchemy.
“I invited a friend from business school over for dinner to help me come up with a name and The Alchemist [a novel by Paulo Coelho] was on my coffee table,” she says. “If you really want something the universe conspires.”
