In a fireside chat at a conclave organized by India’s top media giant The Times of India earlier this year, the anchor introduced Foxhog Ventures CEO Tarun Poddar as the “messiah of rural India, who has empowered the people in the region through his VC (venture capital) ship”.

The anchor, who had earlier interviewed Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways, on the same platform at the conclave, went on to ask Poddar if there is competition in the region or whether Foxhog has been the “Sequoia of rural India”?

Pat came Poddar’s response, “That’s the disappointment. There is no competitor,” causing the anchor to let out a laugh of admiration at his answer.

What is this new VC firm Foxhog compared to the likes of Sequoia, one of the storied VC firms in the world, that a sweeping majority of the people in the industry itself had probably not heard of until then?

Foxhog was also awarded the ‘Emerging VC of the Year’ at the same Times Realty and Infrastructure Conclave 2025.

At this point anyone’s interest in Foxhog would have been piqued. It needed just one quick Google search to find out that Tarun Poddar had pulled off a successful PR exercise despite his “questionable” past splattered across the Internet.

Poddar’s notoriety dates back to 2018 when as a 24-year-old he was arrested for posing as an author and swindling a woman of lakhs of rupees by promising to get her nephew admitted to a top school. The same year the police found that he had duped an HR solutions company by posing as an area head of a multinational company. The latter news was covered by The Times of India.

While one may say that he was in his 20s and his misdoings may be forgiven, but Poddar did not stop at that. In 2020, he launched Foxhog Ventures in the US and incorporated its India unit Foxhog Ventures Pvt Ltd in 2022, positioning it as a VC firm. This could have been Poddar’s moment of turning over a new leaf but old habits likely die hard.

To give heft to his VC image, he posed as a Stanford alum (more on this in the later part of the story) and a former board member of Sequoia! Not that he wasn’t called out earlier for his blatantly phishing activities. As early as 2020, Chenxi Wang, founder and general partner, Rain Capital, documented a first-hand account on cyber security news website Dark Reading on how Poddar listed her as a managing partner of Foxhog’s new fund without her knowledge. 

Foxhog also floated questionable press releases about raising capital worth $63 million from GGV Capital, which has invested in Indian startups such as Udaan and Khatabook before its split last year. This was picked up by publications like Business Line. Foxhog also issued a press release about launching its initial public offering (IPO) of Rs 630 crore and getting listed soon in 2023.

Meanwhile, Foxhog’s rural investment under the banner “VC for Villages” wasn’t going as planned as touted in The Times of India conclave with mass layoffs. This is gradually building into a larger investment scheme in India’s startup ecosystem. The Head and Tale has learnt that over two dozen startup founders have accused Foxhog of cheating them, prompting the filing of an FIR against Poddar. He has, however, denied wrongdoing and responded with defamation cases against some of the complainants.

In fact, at 1 a.m. today, Foxhog sent us a copy of its case filed against media platform Startup Story -- dated August 13, 2025.

According to some startup founders The Head and Tale spoke with believe that there is no real corpus to invest from while he and his team make a show of doing due diligence to invest in startups. “The committed amount never landed in our bank account but instead we had to pay a litany of fees to Foxhog related entities in the name of due diligence,” one of the startup founders said. We will dive into this later but let’s first meet Poddar face-to-face.

Poddar agreed to meet us at a café, a few minutes’ walk from his corporate office at the iconic Statesman House in the swanky Connaught Place area.

In the midst of the conversation, he drops that he is paying Rs 22 lakh per month as rent for the office! But let’s not get ahead.

As he walked in, escorted by a gentleman, he looked composed and greeted us as if we were startup founders raring to pitch our ideas and extract investment from Foxhog.

We quickly get down to business and ask how a person at a non-banking finance company (NBFC) Richcredit Finance Pvt Ltd, Foxhog claims to have links with had no idea about the company and Tarun Poddar. Poddar and the gentleman immediately get on a call. Few minutes pass and they say the matter has been resolved, as it was a junior, who was not aware, who had attended to us then. He uses this line of strategy to answer all our questions, passing on the buck to disgruntled employees to even a dead employee, to media, startup founders who are crying foul against him and everyone else -- but himself.

He tells us that he started Foxhog in 2020 as a proprietorship firm with his savings and investment from his unidentified friend who put in 30-40 lakhs. He explains that Foxhog does not have a fixed fund corpus but has a number of individual investors, or Limited Partners (LPs), as they are known in VC parlance, from the US and even from Ethiopia and Hong Kong. It is quite normal for VC firms to not disclose their LPs so we give him the benefit of doubt on it. On probing further about his fund, he adds that it has invested in over 100 companies, out of which 10-12 are in India. An investment of around Rs 100 crore has been made so far.

To which we ask that Foxhog recently came up with a release that said that Bengaluru-based edtech startup Amplify Dreams Academy has raised $18.6 million from the VC firm. In rupee terms, the amount is more than Rs 150 crore, which is already higher than the cumulative investment it has made.

Poddar, of course has a response to it and says that the investment will be made in tranches and has so far released Rs 70 lakh to Amplify Dreams Academy. The total investment will be made over a decade based on milestones. When we ask if he is confident that the company will survive for that long in the first place, he says the company has “strong patents in India and the UK to its name that make it a strong bet.”

To be sure, it is not uncommon among VCs to release committed capital in tranches but something does not add up.  We have also written to Anil Patel, founder of Amplify Dreams Academy, as he was one of the rare founders who publicly said he has received money from Foxhog. But details of his holding (legal) entity remained vague so we have sought his comment but haven’t heard from him yet. When we asked about this to Poddar, he said that he will get Patel to speak to us but we are still waiting.

We also asked about Foxhog’s investment in Delhi-based fantasy games startup FanBall XI, as per its own release in October 2023. That investment was called off which Poddar himself admits but the fact that its release exists is misleading.

When we prod him further to elaborate his VC strategy and ask why all investments by Foxhog have been done alone without including other VCs, Poddar gets agitated and tries to swerve the conversation by saying: “We don’t want to be the VC. Our goal is to get a commercial banking license. This is a game of presence.”

We thought for the first time he spoke with honesty.

The award from The Times of India is not the sole stamp of credibility earned by Foxhog that has expanded his visibility and presence.

In the past months, Foxhog also stormed into India’s revered educational institution -- Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). In June, Foxhog announced Rs 25 crore under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative for IIT Kanpur and Rs 17 crore for IIT Roorkee. Foxhog did not hold back in blowing its trumpet about it as it was a sterling excuse for it to expand presence and build its credibility.

Foxhog’s investment announcement in the IITs went up on all of its social media posts and why not – the Indian government’s Press Information Bureau (PIB) also carried a release saying, “Foxhog Ventures & IIT Roorkee Join Forces to Propel Vision of Viksit Bharat”.  The phrase Viksit Bharat represents the government of India's ambitious vision to transform the nation into a developed entity by the centenary of its independence 2047.

The release was complete not just with a photo op but also a quote by KK Pant, Director, IIT Roorkee who said, “This MoU with Foxhog Ventures will amplify rural innovation, empowering communities through precision technologies, smart manufacturing, Industry 4.0 paradigms and inclusive economic models.”

Notably, it was this IIT post of Foxhog that first caught The Head and Tale’s attention. We immediately wrote to both the IITs, seeking their comments on their due diligence process before signing MoUs with companies. IIT Roorkee in fact forwarded our queries to Poddar which most likely sealed The Head and Tale’s interview with him.

[An update: After The Head and Tale queries to IIT-Roorkee, the premier engineering institute has removed all posts on this collaboration from its social media platforms. And, even the post published on PIB stands deleted.]

When we asked him how he is extending the investments committed to the IITs, Poddar says with a trace of irritation, “Why are people not understanding. These investments will be done in tranches. I am not doing anything illegal.”

That is not all, Foxhog’s presence has not been limited to top media awards, the IITs and TED talks. Foxhog also recently posted saying Poddar met with Minister of Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal. The meeting with the law minister, a Foxhog press release said, focused on key banking regulatory frameworks for foreign institutions operating in India.

Poddar has also flaunted his association with Manoj Tiwari, a Member of Parliament (MP) of the ruling party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on social media.

Poddar’s expanding presence in the corridors of power and IITs point to its strong PR and communications team. What is interesting is also that Poddar appears to have built a strong support on LinkedIn with connections having thousands of followers singing his praises. Few of them including non-Foxhog employees – some so-called media platforms and influencers – even take it upon themselves to post about the company’s developments!

The growing presence of Foxhog in influential circles may be giving Tarun Poddar the confidence to step away from some of the personas he was once accused of adopting to gain attention. Another possible reason is that he is now facing louder and more public allegations of financial misconduct than ever before.

For instance, Poddar does not play up his Stanford MBA education on his LinkedIn profile anymore. It is squeezed in the ‘About’ section of his LinkedIn page if you bother to read it. What Poddar means by saying he studied at Stanford is a Certificate Program in Innovation and Entrepreneurship. It is not a full time course and nowhere near MBA program for which GMAT and TOEFL is required. In his own words to The Head and Tale, he did an online 9-month course from Stanford of which the last three months included some project work.

To be fair, Poddar is not the first Indian public figure to embellish details of their foreign education. Over the years, several high-profile personalities have faced scrutiny after it emerged that their much-touted overseas degrees were, in fact, short-term certificate programmes.

Poddar has also stripped his LinkedIn profile of his stint as board member at Sequoia. When we ask him of his Sequoia connection, he says he worked at it as a “third party”. In a detailed video on Foxhog itself, he categorically states that he worked for a few months at Sequoia. We have emailed Peak XV (formerly Sequoia Capital India) for its comments.

A Peak XV spokesperson responded: "Any claims of an affiliation between Tarun Poddar and Peak XV Partners or (formerly) Sequoia India are completely false."

His declaration of Sequoia connection earlier perhaps gave him the confidence to list foreign investors like Chenxi Wang as an executive at Foxhog as mentioned earlier. Poddar tells us that he was in touch with Wang and she knew about her announcement as a Managing Partner at Foxhog. Wang in her response to us said, “That is false -- the part about him spoke to me regarding a position at Foxhog. My interaction with Mr. Poddar was documented in the article (in Dark Reading published in 2020).”

“He (Poddar) sent a LinkedIn message about looking for "faithful people to join" his new venture capital firm -- there is a screenshot in the article. I did not engage. The next thing I heard was that I was listed on his website and also the newsletter. There was absolutely no discussion between me and Foxhog,” she added in response to The Head and Tale queries.

Likely banking on his fake Sequoia credentials, Poddar also issued a press release in 2022, saying that Foxhog was in talks with GGV Capital to raise $63 million. As mentioned earlier, the Business Line also picked up the story, credit to the Foxhog PR team again. Interestingly, the Business Line story also said that Foxhog is backed by Tiger Global as one of its marquee investors, citing Poddar. When we ask Poddar about this, he says one of Foxhog’s investors is backed by Tiger Global so the connection!

Subsequently in 2023, Foxhog also posted saying it has secured the amount from GGV Capital. When we ask Poddar to clarify on it, he says that talks with GGV Capital fell through. He adds that the post on Foxhog successfully securing the capital from GGV Capital was spearheaded by an employee who passed away because of Covid.

Foxhog has now pulled down the GGV Capital post related to it having secured the funding amount.

We have asked Poddar to furnish us proof to back his claim that the GGV Capital post was made by the employee who is dead. We have also emailed Tiger Global to verify the information floated by Poddar.

The Head and Tale has verified that GGV Capital, which split into two independent firms – Notable Capital and Granite Asia last year – “has never made any investment in Foxhog Ventures or its affiliated entities, nor do we have any relationship with them. They are not authorized to represent Granite Asia or GGV Capital in any way.” This was emailed by a Granite Asia spokesperson to a startup founder when he was doing his due diligence on Foxhog.

Foxhog’s pitch for entry into India was perfect under its VC for Villages and VC for Women banners. It is part of its intrinsic PR strategy to proclaim that Foxhog was launched on International Women’s Day 2020.

Foxhog’s VC for Villages that focuses on providing alternative financing solutions to farmers in small towns and rural areas also got a prominent coverage in media startup Yourstory in 2022.

Poddar tells us that it operates on a LSP (lending service provider) model which acts as a third-party agent that work with regulated entities such as banks or NBFCs, to facilitate various stages of the lending process.

 

He adds that the company recently launched Finko, a digital-first, microfinance company, to double down on its rural penetration. Finko is now listed as a Digital Lending Application (DLA) for the NBFC Richcredit Finance Pvt Ltd as was mentioned above.It also marks a smart move as it eyes a commercial banking license. Poddar told The Head and Tale that he has given Rs 8 crore as a debt to the NBFC – which will be used to further lend to borrowers sourced by Poddar’s company.

But has Foxhog’s rural bet paid off and has Poddar truly been the “messiah” of rural India?

Its India unit’s financials does not paint an encouraging picture. But before we get into that allow us to insert what Poddar said to the anchor’s concerns about rising non-performing assets (NPAs) at the Times of India conclave:

“Let’s cut the word NPA as we are not the lenders but we are investors. And there is no competition for us.”

For context on NPAs and how it is a reality in India, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the share of stressed assets of NBFCs in the microfinance sector (including that of NBFC-MFIs) increased to 5.9% in March 2025 from 3.9% in September 2024.

Coming to Foxhog India Pvt Ltd’s financials, the company posted a total revenue of Rs 1.55 crore in FY24 as compared to Rs 1.50 crore in the previous fiscal year, as per the Registrar of Companies filings. Its profit was at Rs 31,706 only during the period.

Notably, its auditor Gupta Hemant and Co underlined that in its opinion, proper books of account as required by law have not been kept by Foxhog so far.

The financial report card is in stark contrast to what it has been selling to the media. Its website says that Foxhog reported “outstanding financial results for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024” without specifying a number. The only number it talks about in this post is the “remarkable profit margin of 31.26% for the fiscal year”.  

Another post says that the company posted its highest quarterly net profit of $104.12 million in Q1 FY23, witnessing a growth of 29.4%. This quarterly net profit figure was also carried by Yourstory in the article mentioned above. The startup news platform India Startup News said that Foxhog Ventures has reported a robust profit of Rs 124.69 crore for the financial year 2024-25 and announced a new Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP), and a three-month salary bonus for its employees. The Indian Startup News portal also said that Foxhog increased its CEO's annual salary from Rs 2.38 crore to Rs 3.97 crore.

In our follow up query about its financials, Foxhog said that “Foxhog Ventures India Ltd has no any business and not involved in any business”. It added, “our business transaction are only related to salary, rental and vendor payment along with 1-2 advisory so you can expect the turnover but you cannot expect the profit.” It revealed that it expects Rs 4.5 crore in revenue in fiscal FY25.

It further explained that “Foxhog’s global high net profit is from Foxhog Ventures Inc, Foxhog LLC, Foxhog Ventures India Limited (Smaller Part), Foxhog Ventures UK Ltd, Cook & Eat, Foxhog’s Advisory, Foxhog’s VC for Villages (Profit based program), Foxhog’s Third party disbursal commission and Foxhog Director’s Personal Portfolio Companies.”

On Poddar’s salary, it said, “CEO Salary and their Professional Fees are visible in the ITR Filed individually by CEO and in bank statement as well (Hope not required to share). And in upcoming year we are looking to increase it again in 2026.”

Later, Foxhog also responded, "We are glad to update you that ESOP has been given to 8 Employees who have completed more than 2 years and 1 year where bonus for 3 month salary have been paid to more than 25 employees in Finance Team only that too to only who had completed 6 months with Foxhog."

Attributing some of Foxhog’s profit growth to VC for Villages is questionable as it has not always been smooth sailing. By Foxhog’s own admission, it laid off over 1,200 employees, or 12% of its workforce, in 2023. A majority of them were employees serving at customer service points in the rural areas. Poddar tells that earlier all employees were on the company payrolls which weighed on the company’s finances including the ones serving at customer service points. But now only about 80 employees are on the payroll. The US team has 20 employees, he adds, of which 10 are under payroll. 

A person familiar with the details said that there is barely any US team to speak of. The Head and Tale could not independently verify that. Poddar says that the company keeps firing people based on their performance.

Foxhog had last year posted that it fired CFO, David Borezzon, due to findings of financial mismanagement. Our research could not trace anyone by the name of David Borezzon. We have followed up with Foxhog to provide details of his employment plus his past experiences. 

We also tried searching about Foxhog’s management team https://foxhogventures.com/insight/management/ and we could not find any executives of these names on the internet. Last year, Foxhog had also announced actress Sana Singh Rajput’s appointment as Director of investment for India operations. We could not independently verify this information.

Interestingly, there are several websites that Foxhog operates – foxhogbank.co.in, foxhogventures.com, and in some places the company has earlier claimed itself as Foxhog Small Finance Bank. 

Interestingly, even as its India numbers are a dud, Foxhog had already been vying for an initial public offering (IPO) in the country.

Among other media publications, The Business Standard online carried a report saying that Foxhog's IPO is set to be listed in November 2023 even as it categorically said it is a sponsored content. The report said that Foxhog had filed draft papers with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in 2022 with an aim to raise Rs 630 crore via the IPO. 

But it looks like Foxhog’s IPO did not move beyond news PR. 

Two months ago, ‘India Startup News’ shared a post on LinkedIn, which says: VC firm Foxhog Ventures Corp. USA has filed draft papers with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), becoming the first venture capital firm in the country to initiate the process of going public. According to the filing, the Indian arm of Foxhog plans to raise Rs 350 crore through the proposed initial public offering. The IPO is expected to serve as a benchmark for other investment firms contemplating public listings, potentially opening a new frontier in the country’s financial ecosystem.”

In a response to this post, Tarun Poddar writes, “We did it. We are finally seeing the day we’re waiting since 5 years. A long wait of 5 years. A hard work of 15 years of my career. A failure story of 3 years.

A criticism of 4 years. And the result “ TODAY “ heals everything.”

However, Poddar tells a dramatically different story to The Head and Tale. “Foxhog plans to list on the SME stock exchange as opposed to the main stock exchanges – BSE/NSE – with an aim to raise around Rs 10 crore.”

Notably, earlier in March this year, Foxhog’s board of directors passed a resolution to convert the India unit into a public entity – Foxhog Ventures India Ltd, as per ROC filings.

When we raise the issue with Poddar about a bunch of startup founders, on social media, crying foul over Foxhog’s questionable funding practices and capital that didn’t land in their accounts as committed, he tells us it is a conspiracy of a few of the founders who were denied funding by Foxhog.

He quickly singles out Sandeep Gudapati, founder of Hyderabad-based digital healthcare startup Eviris Health Pvt Ltd and suggests Gudapati triggered our investigation into Poddar.

Poddar further reveals that Foxhog has filed a criminal complaint against Gudapati. A copy of the complaint filed with the Barahkhamba Police Station in Delhi, which has been seen by The Head and Tale, says a sum of Rs 4.5 lakh was extended to Gudapati’s startup but the funding was eventually rejected because of forged documents. Poddar also accused Gudapati of “making false social media post on LinkedIn and ‘sending threats on his personal number’. He also accused Gudapati of invading his privacy by tracing his location.

The matter is now in Patiala House District Court, Delhi. Foxhog’s legal team also sent court cases filed against three other persons, saying, “All 3 persons are related to Sandeep G (Gudapati) only and himself. We have 2-3 more cases against them, not yet sent to you because some have decisions pending on 11th and 14th of August, as it comes I will send you.” The Head and Tale hasn’t received anything yet.

Gudapati declined to speak with The Head and Tale. A person abreast of his case said that Gudapati had been asked to stay mum about Foxhog after receiving his refund of Rs 4.5 lakh or face legal action.

Interestingly, as part of the list of documents shared by Foxhog to The Head and Tale show that the around Rs 4.5 lakh was the fees Gudapati had to fork out during the due diligence process for the funding.

The refund was ultimately executed after Gudapati in an email to Foxhog accused the VC firm of the services rendered by it via an entity -- Dewan Associates -- has been found to be fake, forged, or outright fraudulent -- with the sole exception of the LEI (Legal Entity Identifier). In the email dated March 22, 2025, Gudapati is outright in explaining that it was a “coordinated, organised fraud” against him and that he has the option to escalate the matter to the RBI regarding forged FDI receipt/RBI challan; notify the US Government about the fake ODI certificate; and notify Care Ratings for forging by preparing the (valuation) letter on Canva, among others.

Gudapati had sent the email at 9:58 am on that day. Foxhog’s legal and compliance team responded the same day at 10:23 am, saying “the total refund with grant” has been successfully credited. At 10:27 am, Gudapati confirmed that he received the amount.

Another startup founder Foxhog engaged with that was singled out by Poddar was Hitesh Bang, founder of HBang Hospitality Pvt Ltd, which runs vegetarian restaurants under the brand name “Parmpara Flavours of India.” Bang also declined to comment.

Bang has filed an FIR against Foxhog and its directors at Khairataba Police Station, Hyderabad for cheating, criminal breach of trust and forgery. The Head and Tale has seen the FIR.

Like Gudapati, Bang received an email from Foxhog, expressing investment interest in the company. The email was received in February this year and Foxhog followed the same ritual it does with startups of getting Bang’s company get a valuation certificate and a financial model prepared through its suggested company called Dewan & Associates. 

In April, Bang was informed that the first part of the investment would be transferred on the 19th of that month but the money never came. Shockingly, an email was sent to Bang saying that money was sent but no proof was given.

“One Ms. Manisha Chauhan shared a UETR number, but we later found out it was fake. When he questioned them, they falsely claimed that the money was stuck in a VOSTRO account, and that a call with Bank of America was being arranged to help transfer the money to a NOSTRO account,” per the FIR.

As the money never arrived, Bang sent a legal notice to Foxhog on May 9, 2025 asking it to either release the committed investment or pay Rs. 4 crore as compensation within 72 hours. What Bang got instead was a threatening email and his investment proposal was rejected on May 13, 2025. Foxhog promised to refund the money but kept delaying. The Head and Tale has learnt that Bang did not receive any refund.

Poddar tells us that Bang’s investment proposal was rejected because he also had forged documents. He adds that he has filed a case against Bang. This did not come with the list of documents sent to us by Foxhog.

As we wrap up our meeting with Poddar we remind him to send us the details of Foxhog’s investments. Poddar complies adding, “We have just closed a deal before we came to meet you. The founder is from IIT Delhi.” He adds, “You should write about it.” Soon enough we see that a new press release has gone up on its website saying it has invested in Tech Atriocare Pvt Ltd founded by Tarun Adarsh whose company status is showing active on the MCA.

Off the cuff, he also throws names of Gurugram-based company Crrunchy, whose details are available on the MCA. But its claim to its investment in companies like Guwahati-based RR Logistics and Commitment Central – in which Foxhog claims to have invested $11 million and according to its release is ‘a prominent wedding management company’ – were hard to trace. As mentioned before, we have reminded Poddar again to send Foxhog’s list of India investments with their legal names.

There are slew of other questionable reports about Foxhog and Poddar. One thing that caught our eyes later was Foxhog’s $12.65 million seed investment in a newly launched UK-based Airlines JetConnect Aviation. In fact, Poddar also discussed about aviation in his meeting with the Union Law Minister as mentioned above. One of the posts related to JetConnect Aviation deal showed a logo of India’s Business Today magazine. A couple of social media posts also cropped up that showed Poddar being interviewed with an ET Now logo in the corner of the screen!

But we don’t want to go down that rabbit hole, because what is striking is how Poddar continues to operate openly despite accusations by several entrepreneurs. In fact, Poddar – in the interview to us – boasts that he has a team of lawyers and Delhi police officials to handle his cases.

Founders also warn that Poddar appears to be refining his methods. One entrepreneur alleged that Poddar now avoids using his entity, Dewan & Associates, when approaching startups so as not to arouse suspicion.

It would be unfair to make Poddar the poster boy of financial frauds, as India in general has seen bigger corporate scams like the Satyam scam and Punjab National Bank-Nirav Modi scam. India’s startup industry itself has seen frauds unfold at venture capital-backed companies such as Byju’s and BharatPe.

Poddar’s story is a wake up call not just to the VC industry and startups but to media houses as well to do their own due diligence before lending credibility to companies bent on building their empire through the ‘fake it till you make it’ philosophy.