Former Infosys director TV Mohandas Pai and his partner Ranjan Pai have invested in BookAdda.com, an online book retailer, in collaboration with a group of early-stage investors. This investment comes as a part f their $100-million (Rs 500 crore) private equity fund, choosing to back two Indian and two US-based companies with a total of $35 million. There were reports that K Ganesh and Meena Ganesh have co-promoter stakes in BookAdda.com.

Meanwhile, in 2010, Infokarma Services acquired Bangalore-based online bookstore BookAdda.com. Infokarma is promoted by Hemant Kohli who was earlier CEO of IT&T, a company he had co-founded, grown to over 600-man team and listed on BSE/NSE. He subsequently exited IT&T after its acquisition by iGate. Arjun Kumar, founder and CEO of BookAdda, had joined Infokarma and will be working with Hemant Kohli to build a scalable ecommerce business.

The Pais’ fund was announced in August 2011 with a focus on the life sciences, technology and internet sectors. Mohandas and Ranjan are its only two investors, or so-called limited partners. Their fund aims to invest $3-10 million in each start-up and is scouting for companies making operating profits in the first two years and having a stable management.