[100 Emerging Women Leaders] Meet the woman behind Ostara Advisors, a climate tech-focused investment bank

Since childhood, Vasudha Madhavan has always been good with numbers, making finance her love and a natural career choice.

From spending around eight years working at Citibank and ICICI Bank in different capacities, today Madhavan runs her own investment bank, Ostara Advisors. She claims it is India’s first electric mobility and climate-tech-focused boutique investment banking firm.

While sustainability came into focus later in her life, it had been a part of her upbringing at home from a young age.

“The intersection of the two has been perfect. I could not have asked for more,” she tells HerStory.

Madhavan attended school in Lucknow, after which her family moved to Bengaluru. She pursued an MBA from XLRI in Jamshedpur and landed a job at ICICI Bank.

“It was a dream come true for me,” she says.

At ICICI Bank, she started her career learning the nuts and bolts of banking in the Operations and Product Development teams. After that, she moved into the Structured Finance team in ICICI Bank Treasury, handling Investor Sales for securitisation, loan syndication, and inter-bank term money markets (handling the term money book for the bank) for key client segments. She also played a role in the liquidity management team for the ICICI Bank.

After spending four years at ICICI Bank, she switched to Citibank where life gave her a chance to try a hand at entrepreneurship.

“I was responsible for establishing and expanding the ‘Private Equity & Hedge Fund’ coverage vertical for Citi India. I brought in numerous clients, offering them tailored products that best suited their needs. This experience gave me a deep understanding of client acquisition, crafting valuable propositions, and collaboration,” she adds.

She also worked in Citibank’s Corporate and Investment Banking team and served as a Credit Risk Analyst for the Mid-size Corporates Group.

However, in 2011, she quit Citibank as she wanted to focus more on the sectors.

“I had gained extensive knowledge in various financial products, entrepreneurship, and investment banking in these years. I wanted something more focused so I went for boutique investment banking. This would allow me to work in a few sectors,” she explains.

After two years of gaining experience in boutique investment banking, she decided to start her own investing banking company in 2015. Starting with deals in the Indian EV ecosystem, Ostara Advisors now covers all climate-tech sectors.

Though she says that entrepreneurship was never her plan, she feels that her ‘strong desire to do things my own way’ was the inspiration behind her starting her own firm.

Madhavan recalls that it took her about two years to identify her niche. In 2018, while advising a company diversifying its mobility business, she delved deeper into the electric vehicle (EV) sector.

Vasudha Madhavan

Her company served as the exclusive (Buy Side) M&A advisor for Greaves Cotton’s acquisition of Ampere Vehicle, which she claims to be India’s first two-wheeler M&A deal. Greaves Cotton, a publicly-listed energy solutions company, acquired Ampere Vehicles, working in the Indian electric two-wheeler market.

Ostara Advisors provides fund-raising and merger and acquisition advisory services to climate-tech businesses, focusing on electric vehicles, mobility and logistics, circular economy, industrial decarbonisation, renewable energy and more.

She recalls that when she started her business, green energy and climate tech startups were barely on the radar.

“There were mostly angel networks, with no significant funds or VCs, and smaller check sizes. However, things have changed post-COVID-19. Now, we’re seeing more climate-focused funds emerging, and the market is developing in a much more detailed manner,” she adds.

Among various other clients, she has advised Altigreen Propulsion, an electric 3W commercial vehicle OEM, and Zypp Electric, a D2C EV brand through their Series A fundraises in 2021.

Madhavan also played an active role in the pre-Series A round for ION Energy, a company specialising in advanced battery management and intelligence.

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Challenges and learnings

Madhavan grew up in a middle-class family where her gender was never a limiting factor. Thanks to her mother, she was encouraged to pursue her passions.

Throughout her career, she has rarely witnessed any gender-based challenges. She believes it has been so as she has proved her merit wherever she went.

She recalls one instance where a client refused to take advice from her as she was a woman. But she views such challenges as just a normal part of life.

“I face challenges as they come and handle them normally,” she says.

However, she acknowledges the gender biases women face and advises them to be bold and address these issues when they arise. Reflecting on the finance industry, she notes that while the number of women has increased slightly, there is a lot of room for growth.

“We need more women in finance. It’s encouraging to see more women joining VC funds, but there’s still a long way to go,” she adds.

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