Led · Equity · Apr 2026

Paradise Biryani is a well-known Indian quick-service restaurant chain built around its biryani offering. It currently operates 57 locations and reported about ₹300 crore in revenue. The company plans an aggressive expansion to roughly 160 outlets over the next three years, targeting cities such as Pune, Kolkata, and New Delhi. Samara Capital has been an investor since 2014 and took full ownership in 2022. The chain faces industry headwinds including rising ingredient, staff and rent costs, dense competition from established brands and cloud kitchens, and delivery-app related expenses. Paradise's growth strategy emphasizes geographic expansion and scaling operations, which will require strengthened supply chains and localized market execution to maintain profitability.

Participated · Equity · Jan 2024

SMT develops, manufactures and markets minimally invasive cardiovascular devices, including drug-eluting and bare-metal coronary stents, renal stents, PTCA balloon catheters and other cardiac accessories. The company operates a WHO-GMP certified manufacturing plant in Gujarat and maintains two R&D centers, including one in Dublin, Ireland. SMT exports its portfolio to the UK, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and over 60 other countries, holds CE certification, has multiple process/product patents and has published clinical studies. The company was an early participant in the ‘Make in India’ initiative and claims pioneering achievements such as being the first in the world to receive CE certification for a biodegradable-polymer drug-eluting stent. SMT emphasizes a customer-centric distribution model through a direct sales network and a strong focus on R&D. The company plans to use new capital to finance organic growth, pursue synergistic acquisitions and build an aggressive R&D program to expand its pipeline of next-generation cardiovascular products.

Participated · Seed · Apr 2023

Hug is a New York-based social marketplace connecting digital art and NFT creators with current and prospective collectors. The platform enables artists to sell digital and physical goods and uses a community-driven, decentralized curation process to spotlight diverse and underrepresented creators. Hug combines social curation and discovery tools with Hug Studios, which offers educational and advisory programs for Web3 startup founders and creative entrepreneurs. The company raised $5M in Seed funding to accelerate product growth and integrate creator-first commerce features with its existing tools. The team is led by founder and CEO Randi Zuckerberg and was later joined by co-founder and Chief Growth Officer Debbie Soon. In November 2022 Hug consolidated the Meta Angels NFT community under its parent company Assemble.