VG Siddhartha: The man who tasted success through coffee

Born in to a family of coffee planters in Karnataka's Chikkamagaluru, VG Siddhartha founded India's first popular café chain Café Coffee Day with its first outlet opening in Bangalore's famous Brigade Road in 1996.

VG Siddhartha, who went missing last night, was recently in the news for selling his entire stake in midsize IT firm Mindtree to L&T. He was the largest shareholder in Mindtree and exited the company after remaining invested for close to two decades.

The police has launched a search for the businessman who also happens to be the son-in-law of senior BJP leader SM Krishna.

Siddhartha, who has a masters in economics from the Mangalore university, has also worked for JM Financial in his heydays before he started the coffee business.

Siddhartha started the café chain in 1993 when he incorporated Coffee Day Global which is the parent of the Coffee Day chain. In 2000, the company achieved another milestone when it ventured into the retail financial services with the launch of Way2Wealth by acquiring Sivan Securities Limited.

Siddhartha entered Mindtree in 2000 by investing in the IT startup through Coffee Day Global's subsidiary Coffee Day Trading.

Coffee Day Global also has interests in hospitality business. In 2006, it launched the Coffee Day Hotels & Resorts which operates under the brand name 'The Serai'.

The 58-year-old coffee entrepreneur had recently been in talks with Coca Cola to offer the international giant a stake in his Coffee Day enterprise.

Source:-https://retail.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/food-entertainment/food-services/vg-siddhartha-the-man-who-tasted-success-through-coffee/70444673