# Essar Communications Holdings

> Essar Communications Holdings is a VC fund backing Mobile and Mobile Payments. See 1 investments, check sizes, portfolio and contact details. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: VC Fund
- Location: Mumbai, India
- Total investments: 1
- Last investment: Apr 2008
- Lead investor: 100%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/essar
- X (Twitter): https://www.twitter.com/essar
- Website: http://www.essar.com/Telecom/profile.htm
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/essargroup

Essar Communications Holdings is a VC fund in Mumbai focused on Mobile and Mobile Payments. Essar Communications operates in four business segments: Telecom, telecom retail, telecom infrastructure and IT & BPO.Vodafone-Essar is a joint venture of Essar Communication Holdings Ltd and the UK-based Vodafone Group. It is one of India’s largest cellular service companies, with a subscriber base of over 50 million.Essar operatesintegrated IT enabled services through the Aegis brand name, with a presence in interaction services, back office services and value-added services. Aegis has a global delivery model with 20 centers across USA and India. It employs over 20,000 employees in India and the U.S who have expertise in the Telecom, Insurance, Banking and Healthcare domains.Essar has launched India's first countrywide chain of multi-brand and multi-service outlets in the telecom retail space. The MobileStore Ltd currently runs over 1,000 outlets, branded “The MobileStore”. In the next two years, over 2,500 outlets will come up across 650 cities.Essar Telecom Infrastructure is one of the largest independent telecom infrastructure service provisioning companies in the country. It builds telecom tower infrastructure and shares it with several telecom operators in India. It has already set up over 3,500 towers in India, with plans to build 20,000 towers.Essar Communications Holdings Limited had earlier this year announced the acquisition of a 49% stake in Econet Wireless International Limited (EWI) by subscribing to fresh capital in the company. EWI has a 70% shareholding in Econet Wireless Kenya. Econet Wireless Kenya Limited has recently been issued a GSM license by the Kenyan telecom regulator and working together with its partners, it is preparing to build and launch Kenya’s third mobile cellular network. The company aims to launch their services by the end of November 2008 and will focus on capturing a unique segment of the market that has been previously untapped. Essar will actively participate with EWI in the network rollout of Econet Wireless Kenya.

## Contacts

5 contacts available for Essar Communications Holdings. Shizune tracks 5 team members at Essar Communications Holdings. Sign up free to unlock them: https://app.shizune.co/sign-up/investor-profiles/find-team-emails/essar-communications-holdings?utm_source=investor_profile

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Mobile | 1 | 100% |
| Mobile Payments | 1 | 100% |
| Financial Services | 1 | 100% |

## Team

| Name | Title | Investments | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Michael Foley | CEO, East Africa | 1 | — |
| Ajay Madan | CEO, Essar Telecom Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Mr. S. Srinivasa | Resident Director - East Africa | 0 | — |
| Rajiv Sawhney | CEO, Telecom Business Group | 0 | — |
| Sunil Jha | Head - HR, Telecom Business Group | 0 | — |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| obopay | Obopay lets consumers and businesses purchase, pay, and transfer money through any mobile phone using Obopay’s mobile application, text message, mobile Web, or Obopay.com. Obopay works on any mobile phone and any carrier in the U.S. Obopay’s prepaid MasterCard works with any merchant that accepts MasterCard debit cards. Obopay has partnershipswith Citi, Fidelity Information Services, MasterCard MoneySend, Bancorp, Verizon Wireless, AT&T and RIM. Obopay has a wholly owned subsidiary in India whose service launched in March, 2008. Obopay India has announced partnerships with YES Bank, Aircel, BPL and Tata Indicom. | $20M | Series D | Apr 21, 2008 |  |

1 of 1 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [AllianceBernstein](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/alliancebernstein) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Citi](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/citigroup) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [The Olayan Group](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/olayan) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [ONSET Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/onset-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Promethean Investments](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/promethean-investments) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Qualcomm Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/qualcomm-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

## Similar investors

### Similar stage
- [Sigma Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/sigma-partners) — VC Fund
- [EDBI](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/edbi) — VC Fund
- [Trifecta Capital Advisors](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/trifecta-capital-advisors) — VC Fund

## FAQ

### What does Essar Communications Holdings invest in?

Essar Communications Holdings invests primarily in Mobile, Mobile Payments and Financial Services startups, most often at Series D stage. Most of the 1 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in India. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### How do I contact Essar Communications Holdings?

Public channels for Essar Communications Holdings include LinkedIn, X (Twitter) and the website linked on this profile. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.

### Who are the partners at Essar Communications Holdings?

The team at Essar Communications Holdings includes Michael Foley (CEO, East Africa), Ajay Madan (CEO, Essar Telecom Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd.) and Mr. S. Srinivasa (Resident Director - East Africa). The Team section lists each member with their title, investment count and links.

### 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.

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