Puthen & Cole

Puthen & Cole

Puthen & Cole operates from Singapore as a generalist investment firm founded by Rajesh Yohannan, who previously led Oanda's Asia-Pacific unit. The firm maintains a deliberately low public profile, with its website describing management consulting services rather than a traditional fund structure. An early known commitment was to DealStreetAsia, the financial news platform founded by reported business partner Joji Thomas Philip, where Puthen & Cole invested alongside HT Media, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, and the Singapore Angel Network. The firm targets early-stage ventures, emphasizing start-up and seed-stage opportunities where Yohannan's operational background and personal network drive sourcing. DealStreetAsia remains the only publicly traceable portfolio company, indicating a concentrated or opaque deployment approach. Co-investors in that transaction — HT Media, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, and SGAN — suggest the firm participates in syndicated angel rounds rather than leading institutional raises. Geographic focus centers on Singapore but co-investment patterns imply Southeast Asia and India exposure. No public AUM or team size figures are available. The firm's website functions primarily as a professional services storefront, listing management consulting capabilities alongside a generic investment mandate. The dual consulting-investing structure creates potential alignment friction common to hybrid shops, though without disclosed deployment volume, the consulting arm's relative weight remains unobservable. Structurally, Puthen & Cole resists clean classification. Unlike a standard single-family office or a fully committed venture fund, it appears to operate as a personal investment and advisory vehicle for Yohannan — combining fee-based consulting with direct principal investments. The relationship with DealStreetAsia's founder suggests deal flow may emerge from personal industry ties rather than a formalized origination process.