Spices to ceiling fans: The non-tech pursuit of A91 Partners

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Editor's note: The two men seem amused, one even laughs out loud. And this writer, for what isn’t more than a couple of seconds but definitely seems longer, wonders if the question is really that absurd. In the age of everything tech, how does a venture capital fund invest in a company that makes fans?  But chuckles follow.  And then finally, the two men practically talking over each other, echo the same answer: “It was the easiest decision.” VT Bharadwaj, sitting across the room with his classic chirpy temperament, says it first. His colleague Gautam Mago doesn’t even have to look up from his phone to concur. The two men, general partners at venture capital firm A91 Partners and long-time friends, are as much in sync today as they say they were when they started the firm a little over three years ago. *** In one of the many meeting rooms on the tenth floor of a high-rise building in South Mumbai, there are three cups of coffee and chatter. It is the last working week of 2021, a Thursday, and Bharadwaj …