Manav Garg (Together Fund): 10 Key Things You Must Know

Overview

Manav Garg is a prominent Indian entrepreneur and venture capitalist, best known for founding Eka Software Solutions and co-founding Together Fund. His journey from a commodity trader to building one of India's pioneering global SaaS companies embodies resilience, deep domain expertise, and innovative vision. Manav's leadership and investments have significantly impacted India's technology ecosystem, especially in SaaS and AI sectors. This article explores key facets of his career, entrepreneurial ventures, and ongoing efforts to foster innovation through venture capital, highlighting facets such as his net worth, Eka Software's foundation, and surprising interests including cricket.

1. Early Life and Career Beginnings

Manav Garg hails from Moga, a small town in Punjab, India, raised in a middle-class family. After completing engineering from REC (now NIT) Jalandhar and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), Delhi, he embarked on a career in international commodity trading. Working with G Premjee Trading in Singapore, he specialized in agricultural commodities like rice and green coffee, traveling extensively across Southeast Asia. This phase honed his lateral thinking and market insights, laying the groundwork for his future ventures.

2. Founding Eka Software Solutions

Around 2003-2004, recognizing the inefficiencies in commodity trading operations—from manual processes to error-prone spreadsheet management—Manav decided to leave his lucrative trading job to build a technology solution. He founded Eka Software Solutions in Bengaluru, initially focusing on automating back-office workflows in commodity trading. Despite having no technical background, Manav designed the foundational workflow on paper and bootstrapped the company with personal savings before securing a crucial $1 million seed investment. Eka grew rapidly, securing marquee clients like Noble Group and Cargill, and became profitable in its first year.

3. Growth and Technological Evolution of Eka

Eka's success was underpinned by its deep domain knowledge and client-centric product development. By 2012, the company was generating $14 million in revenue with $5 million profits. Subsequent funding rounds included $10 million from Nexus Venture Partners and over $40 million from Silver Lake Kraftwerk, enabling expansion into energy and mining sectors through acquisitions. The company undertook a daring pivot from client-server software to a cloud-native SaaS platform between 2015 and 2019, navigating internal resistance and market challenges. Post-pivot, Eka regained growth momentum and industry acclaim, ultimately being acquired in 2024 by Symphony Technology Group for a global scale-up.

4. Together Fund: From Founder to Investor

In 2021, Manav co-founded Together Fund, an operator-led venture capital firm focused on backing early-stage SaaS and AI startups. Together Fund embodies a founder-first approach, leveraging operational expertise to accelerate growth, particularly emphasizing startups building AI-enabled software. The Fund's first corpus was $85 million, and its second fund, closed mostly by mid-2025, totals $150 million. Together Fund aims to reduce time to build unicorns by providing mentoring, network access, and strategic guidance. It has invested in over 30 startups, including many AI pioneers.

5. Investment Thesis and AI Focus at Together Fund

Manav Garg advocates for a paradigm shift from traditional SaaS to AI-first software, highlighting the expansion of total addressable market (TAM) beyond software budgets to include operational salary costs. Together Fund actively backs AI-native startups focusing on vertical industries like healthcare, sales, marketing, and developer infrastructure. Manav emphasizes resilience, strong product craftsmanship, and founder-market fit when selecting investments. The firm's portfolio includes innovations in AI agents, customer support automation, and AI infrastructure, recognizing AI's transformational impact on enterprise software.

6. Manav Garg’s Net Worth and Financial Success

While exact net worth figures are not publicly disclosed, Manav Garg's financial success stems from the growth and eventual acquisition of Eka Software Solutions, alongside returns and equity stakes from angel investments and venture capital activities. The sale of Eka to STG in 2024 marked a significant liquidity event. Additionally, his role in raising and managing substantial venture capital funds with Together Fund contributes to his stature as a key figure in India's software investment landscape.

7. Manav Garg and Eka Software: Impact on Indian SaaS Ecosystem

Manav is credited as a pioneer in building a global SaaS company from India, effectively demonstrating that enterprise software excellence can be developed and scaled domestically. Eka's trajectory inspired a wave of Indian SaaS startups and contributed to founding SaaSBOOMi, a community fostering collaboration among Indian SaaS founders. Manav's operational learnings and ecosystem-oriented mindset have helped nurture startup talent and product innovation across India, furthering the nation's ambitions as a "Product Nation."

8. Manav Garg and Cricket: An Interesting Hobby

Aside from his professional ventures, Manav Garg has an interest in cricket, evident through his participation in cricket leagues such as those with teams Cricmax Hawks and Cricmax Challengers, featuring as an all-rounder with right-handed batting and right-arm medium bowling. While not a professional cricketer, his engagement illustrates a well-rounded personality and connection to popular Indian sport.

9. Challenges Overcome: Pivoting, Scaling, and Talent

Manav's journey involved navigating challenges such as pivoting Eka's business model to cloud architecture, integrating acquired companies' operations, and scaling global sales and marketing. He managed operational resistance and market uncertainties with conviction and execution focus. As an investor, he recognizes talent as a critical challenge in the Indian SaaS ecosystem, emphasizing the need for nurturing product management, engineering, and sales talent to sustain growth.

10. Future Prospects and Vision

Manav envisions AI as the next frontier for software innovation, with Together Fund strategically channeling investments into AI applications with global market potential. He anticipates the rise of AI-native software that can expand market reach by automating human workflows and enhancing productivity. Furthermore, he remains committed to developing India’s SaaS ecosystem into a place where multiple billion-dollar companies emerge, supported by robust operational know-how, scalable capital, and founder-first mentorship.

Conclusion

Manav Garg's trajectory from a small-town trader to a global SaaS entrepreneur and influential venture capitalist exemplifies the transformative power of vision, resilience, and deep domain expertise. His founding of Eka Software Solutions disrupted traditional commodity trading software, while his leadership at Together Fund is shaping India's next generation of AI and SaaS startups. Beyond business success, Manav balances a rich engagement with community building and personal interests like cricket, indicating a multidimensional persona. As India's software ecosystem accelerates into the AI era, Manav Garg's insights and investments spotlight the country's potential to lead globally, raising questions about how emerging founders will continue this momentum in the years to come.