# CK Ranganathan

> CK Ranganathan is a seed investor at CavinKare (Hyderabad) backing Retail and Manufacturing. See 4 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [CavinKare](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/cavinkare)
- Location: Hyderabad, India
- Total investments: 4
- Last investment: Aug 2024
- Lead investor: 25%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chinnikrishnan-ranganathan-800564199
- X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/ckranganathan
- Website: https://x.com/ckranganathan

CK Ranganathan is a seed investor at CavinKare in Hyderabad focused on Retail and Manufacturing. Mr. CK Ranganathan, the Founder Chairman of CavinKare, was born in the small coastal town of Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu, to parents with a primary interest in education. After obtaining his Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry and a brief stint in the family business, he set out to carve his own path in business.After a challenging start, he finally set upChik India in 1983 with an initial investment of Rs. 15,000 and Chik Shampoo as his introductory product. The company was renamed as Beauty Cosmetics Pvt. Ltd. in 1990 and was subsequently rechristened as CavinKare Pvt. Ltd. in 1998.A pioneer of innovation, Mr. CK Ranganathan has shaped the company to create innovative products by combining the best of nature and technology to improve the lifestyle of consumers. Under his inspiring leadership, the company while expanding into Personal Care, also diversified into Food, Beverages, Dairy and Snacks categories, both in domestic and international markets.Under Mr. CK Ranganathan’s guidance, Trends in Vogue has pioneered the concept of ‘family salons’ in India and is the first to channel this industry into an organized salon chain sector with its specialist brands – Limelite and Green Trends. Trends in Vogue has a clear-cut focus of providing grooming and personal styling solutions to men, women and children. Mr. CK Ranganathan was conferred the prestigious, Entrepreneur of the Year Award by the Economic Times in 2004. He was also the Winner of 2018 “ICIS World Surfactants Awards” for an outstanding contribution to the Surfactant Industry Globally.He was the Chairman of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Tamil Nadu State Council for the year 2009-10. He is the former president of the Madras Management Association.Mr. CK Ranganathan is one of the founding members of the Ability Foundation – an NGO working towards the rehabilitation of the physically challenged. He also instituted the CavinKare Ability Awards in 2003 to celebrate the exemplary spirit of individuals who have risen above their physical limitations to display great achievements in life.In order to encourage the spirit of entrepreneurship, Mr. CK Ranganathan has instituted the Chinnikrishnan Innovation Awards in 2011 in memory of his father, the late Shri. R. Chinnikrishnan. The award seeks to identify and promote entrepreneurs running small businesses built on innovative ideas.Mr. CK Ranganathan’s endeavour of philanthropy and giving back to society has also extended to the field of education. CavinKare patronizes a few public charitable trusts that run schools and colleges. Notable among them, the CK School of Practical Knowledge, a one-of-a-kind school in India that offers practical education to students from classes pre-kg to the 12th standard; the CK College of Engineering & Technology and an MBA institute in Cuddalore, both with the aim of providing world class professional education to people in the rural and coastal regions of Tamil Nadu.Management

## Round sizes

| Stage | Round size |
| --- | --- |
| Seed | $182k–$575k |

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Retail | 3 | 75% |
| Manufacturing | 2 | 50% |
| Shopping | 1 | 25% |
| Textiles | 1 | 25% |
| Furniture | 1 | 25% |

12 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Seed | 2 | 50% |
| Angel | 1 | 25% |
| Series A | 1 | 25% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Yotuh Energy | Yotuh Energy is designed, developed and built Formula Style electric race cars, competing in international competitions like Formula Student Germany, FSAE Italy, and Formula Bharat. | $182.4K | Seed | Aug 19, 2024 |  |
| Fipola | Fipola is a direct-to-consumer meat and seafood retail brand that provides meat products and best-in-class customer service in a clean and convenient shopping environment. Fipola's product line includes chicken and goat, as well as exotic seafood. | $3M | Series A | Mar 04, 2022 |  |
| D'Moksha Homes | D’Moksha Homes is a textile company that focuses on retailing hand-made fabrics like linen, hemp, and lyocell. | $575K | Seed | Oct 04, 2021 |  |
| The Indus Valley | This was the start for The Indus Valley. They sell Natural cookware products. The core idea was to make everyone realise that a good kind of cookware is as important as the ingredients to make a healthy and tasty dish. All their products have the customer’s wellness as the core. What makes the products different are the types of material they usewhich involves wood, clay, cast iron, soapstone and so on. Their main motto is to make their utensils work hard as they do for healthy and tasty food and to be a brand that people can rely on. | $33.6K | Angel | Mar 16, 2020 |  |

4 of 4 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Campus Angels Network](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/campus-angels-network) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Force Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/force-ventures-3142) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [The Chennai Angels](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/the-chennai-angels) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Venture Catalysts](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/venturecatalysts) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

## About CavinKare

VC Fund · Chennai, India

Established in 1983, CavinKare is a diversified consumer company with a strong focus on the personal care category. The Company has created one of the largest homegrown brands in the shampoo market. Over the last few years, CavinKare has also diversified into the dairy, snacks and beverages businesses.

3 contacts available at CavinKare.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| CK Ranganathan | Founder, Chairman & Managing Director | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/ck-ranganathan |
| Raja Varatharaju | Head of Business & Vice President - Personal Care | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/raja-varatharaju |
| Venkatesh Vijayaraghavan | Group CEO & Director - FMCG | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/venkatesh-vijayaraghavan |

## Similar investors

### Similar industry
- [Antler](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/antler-be9c) — VC Fund
- [SOSV](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/sosv) — VC Fund
- [Bpifrance](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/bpifrance) — VC Fund

### Similar stage
- [Antler](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/antler-be9c) — VC Fund
- [Alumni Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/alumni-ventures-group) — VC Fund
- [Right Side Capital Management](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/right-side-capital-management) — VC Fund

### Similar country
- [Titan Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/titan-capital) — VC Fund
- [Inflection Point Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/inflection-point-ventures-d275) — VC Fund
- [Blume Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/blume-ventures) — VC Fund

## Featured in investor lists
- [Manufacturing Angel Investors in India](https://shizune.co/investors/manufacturing-angel-investors-india)
- [Climate Angel Investors in India](https://shizune.co/investors/climate-angel-investors-india)

## FAQ

### What does CK Ranganathan invest in?

CK Ranganathan invests primarily in Retail, Manufacturing and Shopping startups, most often at Seed and Angel stage. Most of the 4 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in India. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### What is CK Ranganathan's check size?

CK Ranganathan typically joins rounds of $182k–$575k at Seed. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds CK Ranganathan participates in.

### When did CK Ranganathan last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for CK Ranganathan closed in Aug 2024. Shizune tracks 4 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

# About Shizune
Shizune.co is an investor database. Core features:
- 48,091 startup investors (angels, VCs, accelerators, and others)
- Email, phone, LinkedIn (for intros), socials, and other contact data
- Updated daily from public funding news
- CSV and Excel export

The User can access the full database FOR FREE after signing up: shizune.co