Key Things to Keep Note of While Investing in a Startup

This content has been authored by Mr. Neeraj Tyagi, Co-Founder, We Founder Circle.

Contemporary society is dominated by a plethora of ideas. They pique human curiosity, guide societal decisions, and power our growingly knowledge-based economy. The startup world in itself is an industry of ideas, offering sophisticated solutions to everyday complications. Startup ideas are typically fuelled in response to existing challenges in the industry, business model, society, or location. Nevertheless, not all ideas progress past their infancy. Some succeed, and some fall flat. While startups offer massive possibilities for high returns to investors, however, profits come with significant risks that many investors are ready to undertake.

Since startups are novel businesses in their early stages, the limited cash flow and exorbitant prices don’t have the force to drive them in long term without monetary support from venture capitalists. Capital venture experts suggest that thousands of new ventures annually receive billions of dollars from angel investors to kick-start their businesses.

In India innovative and promising startups have raised $19.7 Bn in funding so far in 2022. So whether you are a first-time investor or have been investing for many years, there are some basic thumb rules to follow before investing. Here are some key things to keep note of while investing in a startup:

Angel Investing is Active Investing Asset Class

Unlike in other investment options like stock, real estate, or gold, angel investing requires personal involvement & engagement with founders. One needs to keep engaged with the ecosystem to stay updated on industry trends, strategies, competitive landscape etc. Also being actively involved with founders will give you more clarity & insight into business growth, challenges & opportunities. Therefore, the job of the investor doesn’t end just after placing an investment. It is of vital importance to do leg work to improve the chances of a higher return and success. Some networks offer a tech platform for you to stay better connected with founders. Mentoring the startup, financially supervising the startup, and assisting in the establishment of business relationships on behalf of your investment are all examples of types of involvement.

Portfolio Approach of Investing

The entire premise of portfolio investing is to guarantee that you can broaden your investor profile. Portfolio investments are made in a range of assets (equity, debt, mutual funds, derivatives, or even bitcoins) rather than a single asset to generate returns commensurate with the shareholder’s risk profile. Diversified portfolios have lower portfolio risk and volatility than single portfolio positions as it allows shareholders to spread out some of the downside risks of a single investment position without necessarily lowering the expected return rate.

Invest with Network or Seasoned Angel Investors

It is helpful to involve with an angel network or seasoned angel investors before committing to a company. It is recommended to pick someone who has expertise or majors in the field than to take a chance on intuition. A consultant can better assess the backgrounds of everyone involved in business management. They can also better guide with the resources to be invested in a startup since they are well-versed in the particular industry and are updated with the market competition and pitfalls.

A good angel network will provide you with better curated deals with proper due diligence. Additionally, angel network also enables you to keep track of your investment by receiving regular updates and actively working to ensure exits through the next round of funding, which is difficult to achieve when investing individually. Working along the same lines, We Founder Circle (WFC) is a global community of successful founders & strategic angels that have come together to push the start-up industry and steer it towards aggressive growth. WFC invests USD 50K- USD 2Mn amount in early-stage start-ups that are fueled with ambition, sustainability, and a strategic approach.

Use more technology

Technology has long been regarded as a facilitator of business modification. It is rapidly becoming a disruptive force of traditional business models and thus cannot be ignored. The investment industry is constantly changing and sensitive to data acquisition, data analysis, information dissemination, storage distribution and turnaround times. Therefore, it’s wise to invest through networks which use tech platforms like Invstt.com, as they have a better transparent way of showing you startup investment opportunities, giving you a dashboard-driven experience to discover good deals and help you track your investment portfolios. In addition, making use of social media will increase your visibility among startups and top-notch investment circles. This simultaneously improves your chances of getting better deals, and opportunities to invest.

Conclusion

The startup investment landscape is experiencing an age of enlightenment. Individual shareholders now have unparalleled access to top startup investment prospects previously reserved for the angel group of investors. There are numerous platforms, strategies, and types of returns that must all be explored and fully grasped before investing. The stakes are definitely high, but the rewards are enticing too.

Meet the 21-Yr-Old Entrepreneur's Kwige Investments Providing Investments To Early Stage Startups

Sanjiv Kumar, 21 years old young entrepreneur who is now trying to help other entrepreneurs of India in bringing innovative & creative startups from ideation to the market by providing proper guidance, support and pre-seed & seed funding for their initial pick up.

In past, Sanjiv Kumar has worked on his startup ideas few of them were The Luxury eats, Ruffka & Runzze but due to the lack of funds, he couldn't able to handle the expenses alone and had to shut them down. He noticed that the people had great ideas & built blueprints of their businesses, all they lacked were funds. From there, he founded Kwige investments to help young, motivated startup founders in raising their pre-seed and seed round of funding.

Sanjiv kumar

Today the (www.kwige.in) Kwige Investments which now receives over 100’s investment requests per day from start-ups filters out the best unique opportunities and present them to the client investors. Kwige organizes a meeting for the investor and the startup team if the investor is really interested.

You only need money for expansion not for the invention
- Sanjivshen

Sanjiv invests in early-stage startups that he finds innovative or bringing some impact on the economy. He also believes that if a person got an idea then he should work on it rather than just imagining & talking about it. He says today people are more aware of how private investments are done due to the TV show called Shark Tank, Previously people only knew about bank loans and mortgages for which they had to pay high-interest rates.

Investment range: 50,000 to 500 million

Number of Startups Served: 250+

Personal Portfolio:

1. Metaphorsis (New Generation Digital marketing agency)
2. Zingie (Revolutionalized online food delivery)

Apply for startup funding at : www.kwige.in

G7CR Technologies Invests Over $1 Mn in Start-ups via Technology Services in the Last Quarter

Aims to invest up to $30 million to support start-ups in FY 22

With an aim to boost the start-up ecosystem in the country, G7CR Technologies, one of the leading cloud service providers based out of Bangalore has invested over $1 Million in various start-ups via technology services in the last quarter. The ‘Start-up 360’ initiative by G7CR Technologies comes at a time when Start-ups, SMEs and SMBs are relying on Cloud Technology for technical and business edge.

G7CR Technologies, in the last quarter has made tech investments in over 100 start-ups in India and Middle East and Africa offering technology benefits like migrating to cloud, helping them manage their setup on cloud and even modernisation of their application. Under the ‘Start-up 360’ initiative, G7CR plans to invest in over 200 more start-ups in the next 4-5 months and onboard over 1,000 start-ups in FY 2022. G7 CR will also invest in Start-ups with B2B SaaS products and expand their sales operations in newer regions including MEA, the benefits will range from $5000 to $25000.

The tech investment for start-ups will focus on offering strategic support across key business areas: Capital, Building Competency (Technical & Leadership), Revenue and Technology to support start-ups in their journey. The initiative has also helped start-ups opt for transformative innovations and utilize Cloud services for a much wider approach including offering strategic support in Sales enablement, Tech enablement and Business enablement.

With a strong presence pan India and in markets like Middle East, UK and South East Asian countries, G7CR has helped start-ups in their go-to-market strategy and has also offered technology funding against Cloud Consumption. Sectors like education, health, FMCG, retail, marketing, advertising and many more have accelerated the adoption of such initiatives.

Speaking on the occasion Dr. Christopher Richard, MD & Chief Cloud Architect, G7 CR Technologies, said, “Start-ups want to utilize the advantages that cloud technology bring to their business and at the same time they also look for a partner with advanced skills to migrate, optimize, and manage their existing workloads to the cloud and this is where G7CR comes into picture. We have always been trying to disrupt our offers to our customers & partners so that they make most of it rather than trying to fit them into one-size for all offers. The products and services of these start-ups where we have invested via technology services have impressed us. By building a cloud technology platform and working closely with these start-ups we have understood various business challenges they face on a day-to-day basis. With our expertise and market reach we intend to help these start-ups which even have the potential to become unicorns. We are extremely happy and excited for these startups to join the G7CR family.”

G7CR continues to invest in building niche skill sets and has earned the Modernization of Web Applications to Microsoft Azure advanced specialization, a validation of a solution partner’s deep knowledge, extensive experience and proven expertise in migrating and modernizing production web application workloads, and managing app services in Azure.

G7CR Technologies India is an Expert Azure Managed Services Partner driving cloud transformation across India and MEA region. The company provides cloud hosting services packaged with all related support services. The company has been recognised globally for its technical capabilities driving cloud success journeys for businesses from industry verticals such as Banking, Insurance, Manufacturing, Healthcare, PSUs, Education, Retail and IT. G7 CR Technologies has been awarded “The Country Partner of the Year for two consecutive years 2019 & 2020 by Microsoft.

Kotak Securities Launches Start-up Investment and Engagement Programme

Mumbai, 5th  January 2021: Kotak Securities Limited (KSL) today announced the launch of its maiden Start-up Investment and Engagement Programme. Through this programme, KSL will be incubating & investing into innovative fintech and technology start-up companies.

Kotak Securities has set up an exclusive Corporate Development Department (CDD) for this initiative and an initial investment corpus of Rs 50 crore.

Jaideep Hansraj, MD & CEO, Kotak Securities, said, "In today's fast paced world of rapid advancements in technology, we need to be ahead of the curve in terms of product offerings to our customers. Broking and distribution business has become more of a technology play, and this has gained further prominence in the new normal. We strongly believe technology innovation will gauge the competitiveness of a broking firm; however, developing technology involves money and time. It is with this purpose that we have launched our investment and engagement programme where we will partner and pick minority stake in fintech companies that makes strategic sense to Kotak Securities."

Shripal Shah, President – Head Operations, Finance and Technology, Kotak Securities, said, "Kotak Securities will evaluate opportunities of investing, partnering and incubating start-ups and for the right idea, we are willing to back the promoters and take strategic equity stake in the startup. While we get access to some exciting technology plays, start-ups get the advantage of product validation, mentorship and institutional capital."

KSL will launch incubation/accelerator programmes, hackathons, networking events, pitching sessions and demo day programmes for early stage start-ups in-house as well as with other incubator/accelerator groups. There will be a dedicated section on the KSL website where interested start-ups can register and submit innovative ideas and products for evaluation and find various updates under this programme.

About Kotak Securities Limited

Kotak Securities Limited (KSL) is a subsidiary of Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited and the stock broking arm of the Kotak Mahindra Group. As on 30th December 2020, Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited's market capitalisation is close to Rs. 4 lakh crore. Further, with a net worth of Rs. 4,897 crore as on 30th September 2020, makes KSL the brokerage company with highest net worth in the Indian broking industry. Backed by top-of-the line research analyst team – fundamental as well as technical, large branch network, vast franchisee network and referral coordinators spread across Kona Kona of India, and its robust digital trading platform – Internet and App, and decentralized personal dealer services, KSL processes several lakhs of secondary market trades every day. Furthermore, KSL offers a wide range of financial products including Equity, Derivatives, Currency Derivatives, Commodity Derivatives, IPOs, Mutual Funds and Insurance.

We Founder Circle Closes 8 Investments in Just 100 Days; Invested over $400K in Total 8 Deals

We Founder Circle (WFC) – a startup investment platform, has successfully closed 8 startup investment deals within 100 days of its operations. The platform works on founders-backing-founders model, allowing facilitation of funds for startups at seed investment stage. WFC enables investments of USD 50K- USD 150 K amount in early -stage startups that are fueled with ambition, sustainability and strategic approach.

Until now the platform has successfully conducted 03 open pitch session & few direct curation in which it has raised funds for 8 startups including Anveshan, Belora Paris, YPayCard, Knocksense, Deciwood, Humus, Vidyakul & Couch Fashion. The startups hail from fields including- Edtech, Fintech, AI, Fashion, Agrotech etc. WFC has already invested over USD 400K in total since its inception. The brand has over 500 angel investors in its community to strengthen the platform and enable fundraise as per the startup requirement.

Renowned startups founders like Ankit Mehrotra of DineOut, Ashutosh of Beardo, Deepak Tuli of Goibibo, Deepak Sahni of Healthians, Akash of Zypp, Kushang of SupplyNote, Rohit Raj of Chatrbox have joined the Founders-Backing-Founders community by WFC to scale up the startup economy in India. Apart from financial support, the platform also provides access to cross-border founders community, peer-to-peer learning, access to global acceleration programs, business development opportunities etc.

“When a startup is at seed stage, investors work on credibility of the founder and not just the startup model. If a founder is seeking financial support and has rapport in founders’ community, it becomes easier to arrange funds. We Founder Circle has only become more relevant during the current unprecedented times. Due to pandemic funds have gone dry and startup community has come to a standstill. It is the time when things can only recover with mutual support. Hence, we are working on founders-backing-founders model to refuel the community. We have already closed 8 deals in just 100 days of operations which proves that the model is the need of the hour,” said Mr. Neeraj Tyagi- CEO & Founder, WeFounder Circle.

The platform is already in aggressive talks with over 30 startups and aims at going on a funding spree in the first half of 2021.

About WFC

Established in 2020 in Mumbai, We Founder Circle is a global community of successful founders & strategic angels that have come together to push the startup industry and steer it towards an aggressive growth. It invests USD 50K- USD 150 K amount in early -stage startups that are fueled with ambition, sustainability and strategic approach. WFC provides seed funding, business development and global networking opportunities to startup as it believes early-stage startups need a lot beyond just financial support to become scalable and stable.

Smart City Tech Major Quantela makes Strategic Investment in Video Analytics Company Graymatics

• Strategic investment in Graymatics by Quantela aimed at adding real-time Video Analytics to its Smart City and Crisis Management solutions
• To help Quantela diversify its offerings using video beyond cities to include public spaces, buildings, residential and educational campuses, retail and other commercial establishments
• The deal opens doors for Graymatics to participate in smart city projects with Quantela in India as well as globally

MILIPITAS (USA)/ SINGAPORE /HYDERABAD (INDIA) 1st December, 2020: Quantela, a smart city enabler and outcomes-as-a-service provider with over a 100 smart city deployments across the globe, today announced a strategic investment in Silicon Valley founded and Singapore based Graymatics, a cognitive multimedia analytics company with an industry-leading AI platform to transform installed CCTV video feeds into compelling customer centric solutions in different industry verticals.

The all equity deal would give Quantela a minority shareholding in Graymatics with significant strategic and Go-To-Market (GTM) alignment, and help build comprehensive capabilities in video analytics into its AI-driven smart solutions for its target markets spanning smart cities, buildings, education campuses, public spaces and commercial establishments.

For Graymatics, which caters to industries such as surveillance, telecom, media and advertising, retail and e-commerce; the deal opens doors for it to be a part of global smart city projects through Quantela.

Graymatics provides video analytics solutions to different smart cities especially in the East Zone of India, and various smart spaces (including buildings, highways, ports, airports, telecom carriers) in Singapore, Indonesia, China, the Philippines, Japan, Korea to enhance safety, security, operational efficiency and customer experience.

"Looking from the lens of technology maturity, adaptability and affordability; this is the right time for us to scale globally by enhancing Quantela's smart city platforms, which have strong real-time data analytics capabilities, with the power of video analytics to deliver more meaningful and measurable outcomes for city administrators and citizens", stated Sridhar Gadhi, Founder and Chairman, Quantela Inc. speaking about this strategic investment. He added, "This will help accelerate Quantela's journey to improve the liveability of cities and the quality of life of citizens."

Explaining the investment rationale, Amr Salem, CEO, Quantela Inc., said, "A live video stream has data that is dynamic, usually requiring manual surveillance. Most video analytics companies are unable to analyse the actual video content in real-time. Graymatics, with its real-time indexing, analysis and classification of videos and images is innovative in this respect." He further said, "Our investment in Graymatics will give Quantela the competitive edge to tap into opportunities to enhance public safety by tracking suspicious behavior and abandoned objects; improve traffic flow and crowd management; help detect traffic violations through number plate recognition and also identify littering patterns for better waste management."

The scope of application of Graymatics' video analytics can also be extended to digital kiosks and signages at public spaces which can help city administrators and commercial establishments in better monetization. In the post pandemic world, use of facial recognition and video tools could be extended to tracking adherence to social distancing, use of masks etc.

Abhijit Shanbhag, President and CEO, Graymatics said, "Today, video analytics is one of the fastest-growing industries and Graymatics is a frontrunner of innovation in this space. The utility for video analytics goes beyond security and can easily transcend into a powerful tool that can help us run our lives and cities more efficiently." Speaking about the opportunities that lie ahead, Abhijit said, "Graymatics is excited to journey with Quantela as we create synergies between our offerings, creating definitive industry-leading solutions for the smart cities space and beyond."

In India, Quantela partnered with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) to set up the first-of-its-kind India Urban observatory in March 2019 to leverage data analytics for optimizing city operations, improving governance and enhancing economic performance of cities across the country.

Since the pandemic outbreak, it has repurposed its smart city platform to launch CoVER (COVID Emergency Response platform) which is continuing to help governments, public health officials and city administrators to devise mitigation policies and predict hospital infrastructure requirements.

Backed by Digital Alpha, an investment firm focused on digital infrastructure and services required by the digital economy with an equity investment of US$ 10 million in 2018, Quantela was recently accorded 'Minicorn' status by data intelligence firm Tracxn and considered among the top emerging global companies in the smart cities space for 2020.

About Quantela Inc.

Headquartered in the USA, with a presence in Europe and Asia, Quantela is a smart city enabler that makes cities more liveable and sustainable for its citizens. It does so by helping city administrators with its AI-powered platforms that deliver outcomes such as reduced energy consumption and CO2 emissions; improved traffic flow, water and air quality; optimization of waste collection and management; better public safety through crisis management; increased revenues through asset optimization like parking spaces, and reduction of operating and maintenance costs.

Quantela is a pioneer in using 'outcome-based financing models' to unlock the economic value of its smart city projects. It enters into risk-based revenue or savings sharing business models with the cities to help them finance the projects.

The company has over 100 smart city deployments around the globe.

Among its accolades include winning the World Economic Forum's 'Technology Pioneers' award in 2019 and CRN's IoT Innovators Award in 2020.

To know more, visit https://quantela.com/

About Graymatics

Graymatics was founded in Silicon Valley, now headquartered in Singapore with an incorporated entity in India, with a vision of having a massively scalable, versatile platform to transform videos from the massive installed base of CCTV's into actionable data.

It has since developed an industry leading, highly scalable, cognitive multimedia analytics cloud platform allowing for automatic real- time indexing, analysis and classification of videos and images with a suite of search, curation, recommendation and advertising tools.

The platform extracts subtle differentiating attributes of objects in images and videos which can be leveraged for automated surveillance solutions, in-depth content analysis and business intelligence reporting.

Traders Body Sends Letter to FM Seeking Probe into Chinese Investments in Start-Ups

Since last year, Indian traders's body - Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), has been firmly opposing the e-commerce giants like Amazon and Flipkart, and also in August last year, CAIT asked to boycott Chinese goods along with demand of 500% import duty on Chinese goods, to help small traders in India.

Now in a latest, on Tuesday, CAIT has sent a letter to Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman, IT and Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal seeking a thorough evaluation of Chinese investment in Indian companies.

The traders body highlighted that investment in Indian start-ups including Ola, Flipkart, Paytm Mall, Paytm.com, Swiggy, Hike, OYO, Zomato, Policybazaar, BigBasket, Delhivery, MakeMyTrip, Dream 11, Snapdeal, Udaan, Lenskart.com, Byjus Classes, Citrus Tech, etc needs a thorough evaluation.

The CAIT letter said, "Chinese companies like Alibaba, Tencent, and others are lead investors in many Indian start-ups and as such it is to be ensured that no foul play is taking place under the garb of investment."

CAIT secretary general Praveen Khandelwal said, "….we also urge that the Chinese companies that have set up their manufacturing plants in India should also be investigated to ensure that the data they have accrued is not sent to China in any way and there is no threat to the security of the country."

According to a Gateway House report, Chinese investors have pumped in an estimated $4 billion into India’s tech startups which includes investments in 18 out of 30 Indian unicorns.

According to the report, the official FDI inflows from China to India do not present the full picture of Chinese investments in India as the investment in India has not been made in the name of the Chinese entity/investor, and is, therefore, difficult to trace. It is because Chinese funds and companies often route their investments in India through offices located in Singapore, Hong Kong, Mauritius etc. For example, Alibaba’s investment in Paytm was by Alibaba Singapore Holdings Pvt. Ltd.These don’t get recorded in India’s government data as Chinese investments.

Last month, India's Authority for Advance Rulings (AAR) rejected Tiger Global's application for exemption from payment of capital gains tax on sale of its stake in Flipkart to Walmart in 2018. In a ruling, AAR stated that the Tiger Global's investment was routed through the Mauritius entity only to benefit from the India-Mauritius tax treaty while the 'head and brain' of the company was in the US, which is similar to what Chinese investment firms have done in the past by routing the investment via Singapore.

Chinese investments in Indian Startups - Border Conflict, FDI Curbs Likely to be Roadblocks: GlobalData

The recently amended FDI rules and the straining relationship following the recent border conflict between India and China are likely to add roadblocks for Chinese investments in Indian start-ups, according to data and analytics company GlobalData.

GlobalData said Chinese investors have been making their presence felt in a big way in the Indian start-up ecosystem over the last few years.

With the amended FDI regulation, companies heavily backed by Chinese investments are in a state of uncertainty for capital raising, GlobalData said in a statement.

Some start-ups that are backed by Chinese investors like Alibaba and Tencent include BYJU's, Ola, Paytm, Zomato, Swiggy, Delhivery, Dream 11, Hike, MakeMyTrip, Oyo, Quikr, Snapdeal, Udaan and Bigbasket.

GlobalData Lead Analyst Aurojyoti Bose said -

While the new law (FDI curbs) entails investments to be scrutinised and not necessarily stopped, this move is largely seen as a measure to curb Chinese investments and is likely to have a detrimental impact on start-up ecosystem for developing economies such as India given the fact that Chinese companies have traditionally been the lead investors in some of the key start-ups in India, which also enabled these start-ups to scale up

In April, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) had said a company or an individual from a country that shares land border with India can invest in any sector here only after getting government approval.

"On the other hand, though China has been enhancing its prominence, American firms still continue to dominate the funding landscape in India and with the amended FDI regulation and recent escalation of border dispute, Indian start-ups are more likely to turn towards such non-Chinese investments," Bose said.

Facebook Launching its Own VC Fund to Invest in Tech Startups

Facebook is launching its own venture capital fund aimed at making small investments in tech startups and for same, the social network has been hiring seasoned tech investors and has even hired at least one veteran investor already to lead a new "multimillion dollar" investment fund within its experimental apps team, reported The Axios.

According to Axios, Facebook has confirmed that it has hired someone for the role of "head of investments", for which Facebook has posted a job opening recently. The role is for its New Product Experimentation (NPE) team, Facebook has however declined to name the person or say how large the fund would be.

The report further said that to help manage the new fund Facebook's NPE team has Shabih Rizvi, a Google and Kleiner Perkins veteran who was most recently at Gradient Ventures, one of the corporate venture firms owned by Alphabet, Google's parent company.

It is to be recalled that in 2007, Facebook in partnership with VC firms Accel and Founders Fund had debuted fbFund, which is a seed fund providing micro-seed investments for companies developing websites and applications related to Facebook. Its portfolio included GeckoGo and Lyft's precursor, Zimride.

Notably, many big tech companies have their own internal venture funds. Intel was one of the first, which is gradually followed by Microsoft, Google, Qualcomm and others.

Caspian Debt Gets $20 Mn Investment from US International Development Finance Corp

Caspian Debt on Friday said it has received an investment of USD 20 million (over Rs 150 crore) by US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) as long-term debt.

"The new facility, which is a combination of subordinated and senior debt will support Caspian Debt in providing customised, collateral-free loans digitally to professionally managed enterprises operating in high impact sectors in India," a statement said.

These sectors include microfinance, SME finance, affordable housing, affordable healthcare, sustainable agribusiness and education, it added.

Caspian Debt primarily works with first-generation social entrepreneurs, who find it difficult to raise working capital as they run new-age businesses with an asset light model, and have no collateral to offer. The statement noted that many of these companies are well capitalised and are growing rapidly but require more responsive lenders.

Caspian Debt said with this facility, it is also committed to contributing 33 per cent of its investments to women-centric businesses and fulfilling its commitment to DFC's 2X Women's Initiative.

2X has catalysed over USD 2 billion of private sector investment in businesses and funds owned by, led by, or providing a product or service that intentionally empowers women in the developing world.

"Caspian Debt has lent over USD 219 million to over 140 early-stage enterprises contributing to 13 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) over the last seven years. We are delighted to deepen our relationship with DFC, as our partnership continues to provide much needed firepower to support under-served emerging enterprises and women-centric businesses," Caspian Debt founder and MD S Viswanatha Prasad said.

The funding will focus on promoting disruptive entrepreneurs, who are pushing the envelope for creating sustainable impact, he added. PTI SR

HDFC Plans to Invest Rs 100 Cr per Year in Tech Startups: Parekh

Mortgage finance major HDFC is mulling to invest up to Rs 100 crore per year in technology startups, its chairman Deepak Parekh said on Tuesday.

The largest mortgage lender will install a dedicated team understanding the startup ecosystem to do the investments, he said.

The announcement comes at a time when there is a lot of focus on the policy front to encourage startups with an objective of encouraging innovation and creating employment opportunities.

Many corporate entities and also the largest lender SBI have been creating in-house funds to invest in startups.

"At the last board meet, I took an idea of investing Rs 100 crore per year in startups," Parekh said, speaking at the annual Tiecon event here.

He said just like the idea to branch out into universal banking, the board had reluctance with the idea of investing in startups as well, but underlined that he believes there is a need to invest in ideas of the future in the tech space.

The company will be creating a an in-house team at the headquarters to take charge of investments and exuded confidence that they will start operating in two months.

Parekh urged the youngsters not to get "consumed" by the ongoing economic slowdown and exuded confidence that the tide will change soon.

"Do not be disillusioned with the current difficulties. The tide will and has to change," he told the younger entrepreneurs, stressing that India will be an important engine for the world.

Recounting his days while starting up HDFC Bank, which has become the largest by market valuations now, Parekh said he pushed the board to get into mainstream banking because of the need to diversify beyond its forte of mortgage finance.

The veteran industry player, who has set up many an entity in the over four decades, said honesty, integrity and accountability are the key attributes that create a successful institution.

He said it is never too late to start, mentioning that HDFC itself was started as a retirement venture by H T Parekh when he was 65 years old.

The new institution went through a string on difficulties from its earliest days, including an initial public offering which bombed, difficulties in arranging loans from LIC for which lawyers had to called-in from Washington for convincing and challenges in getting UTI Mutual Fund, the only domestic asset manager, to invest, Parekh said.

He said despite faced with challenges like absence of security enforcement for defaults, HDFC adopted a unique model open for business and recalled that Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy's first house in the financial capital was bought on a Rs 70,000 loan from his company, granted only on the basis of an appointment letter.

Risers Accelerator to Provide Initial Funding of up to ₹2 Cr to Startups Working towards Women Safety

Rising untoward incidents against women across the country require collective efforts to ensure that women are safe in the country. The government is doing its parts and Risers Accelerator – a group of 35 successful entrepreneurs based out of Delhi are aggressively promoting start-ups with a vision to bring positive changes in society. In this realm, Risers Accelerator has called out to give initial funding of up to Rs 2 crore to startups who innovate in technology for women safety. The funding amount may increase considering the scale and scope of the product.

Rachit Chawla

Risers focused on the need to improve women’s safety. So, in case everything fails at the last moment, the technology on your phone or any other device would be able to help your family / friends / police to locate you or warn you for any potential threat. "Reading about gory offences against women has made us think for weeks. We wanted to play a role in ensuring that women safety should be the prime concern. In this age of technology and startups, we came up with the idea that if any startup comes up with a feasible idea in this regard, we will help them in growing their business," says Rachit Chawla, Director – Technology & Finance, Risers Accelerator.

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data for 2017 released this year shows instances of reported rape surged from 34,651 in 2015 to 38,947 in 2016. Similar is the case with other crimes against women. "Startups are prospering in the country and many people look for ideas that have an impact on the country’s economy only. We wanted the people to think of startup ideas which not only take care of the commercial benefits but should also have a social impact," added Mr Chawla. 

They added that as accelerator they want the tech startups to come at the front and be the partners in the change the country requires the most.

Investments in Indian Tech Start-ups Touched $14 Bn in 2019: Report

Investments in Indian tech-enabled start-ups grew 18 per cent to USD 14 billion (about Rs 99,400 crore) in 2019, with Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru accounting for a lion's share of the funds, a report by research and consulting firm HexGn said.

India has performed better both in the number of deals as well as funding in value terms with companies like Oyo, Paytm, Ola Electric, Udaan, Bounce and Delhivery raising large rounds, the report said.

"While the number of startup deals in India fell by only 15 per cent (down 27 per cent globally and in Asia), funding in value terms in startups rose by 18 per cent (compared to a 22 per cent decline globally and 56 per cent fall in Asia)," it added.

Globally, the total funding for technology start-ups is estimated to have dipped by 22 per cent to USD 293 billion from USD 375 billion in 2018, with a 27 per cent drop in deals, the report said.

In Asia, funding dropped by 56 per cent to USD 83 billion in 2019 from USD 158 billion in the previous year.

HexGn analysed over 60,000 deals and 1 million data points for the report.

Delhi-NCR attracted USD 7.4 billion in funding, while Bengaluru-based start-ups received USD 4.4 billion in 2019, it said.

E-commerce has customarily been the sector to attract the most funding in India and in 2019 too, it continued its strong march and attracted USD 2.2 billion in funding, the report added.

Transportation and logistics start-ups attracted funding of over USD 2.4 billion, while fintech companies raised over USD 4.1 billion, given the considerable potential of the sector and thrust towards transparency and digital payments from the Indian government, it noted. PTI SR

Softbank, Sequoia, Tiger Global Highest VC Newsmakers of 2019 -Wizikey Report

• Softbank investments in the topmost unicorns in India was the highlight of 2019


• Sequoia and Tiger Global were true angels of the early stage startups this year 


• Tencent and Accel also made their mark in the list

Venture Capital is an important cog of the startup ecosystem in India. Wizikey, Asia’s first PR and communication platform has collated interesting trends across industries using its AI and ML-based Technology and created a report on the top newsmakers of 2019 in the VC ecosystem. The report has been created after a thorough study of all the news published in the sector from 1st of January till date. 

The most common theme for all big VC players was either about their funding announcements or the exits they made. Overall, it was a good year with lots of investments taking place regardless of the economic slowdown.

The top 5 Newsmakers in the category were:

 

 Anshul Sushil, Co-Founder and CEO of Wizikey said, “Venture Capital firms have evolved in stature in the last few years. People just don’t look at them for just capital requirement but for guidance at each and every aspect of the business. Hence it becomes interesting to see what is perceived image of these firms in media."

SoftBank, the Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company is one of if not the biggest venture capitals operating today. With its fingers in almost all kinds of pies, the Japanese giant has been in the news on its own merit and for being mentioned alongside its star portfolio companies like Oyo Rooms, WeWork, Paytm and Ola. Being an industry leader in its field, the media follows SoftBank’s steps with keen interest, which means almost every investment or activity it carries out is covered extensively.

Sequoia, a leading California based venture capital firm had substantial visibility in 2019. In terms of investments, Sequoia had an active year which kept the venture firm in the news constantly throughout the year. Articles pertaining to the star investees of the firm like Oyo, Cred, Freshworks, and Druva ensured Sequoia had enough mentions throughout the year.

Additionally, a shift in the top leadership of the firm coupled with the launch of its Surge program ensured the firm was never out of the media’s spotlight.

Tiger Global is one of the biggest names in the investment community till date. The firm has a rich history of investing in some of the biggest unicorns and up and coming startups across the globe. Thus, it is no surprise that it is in the top 5 Newsmakers in the investment sphere. With investee companies like Ola Electric, CleverTap, and NoBroker, Tiger Global has had a healthy amount of visibility across 2019.

The Chinese mega-conglomerate, Tencent is probably most widely known for its games, PUBG being the most prominent of those lately. What people not keenly following the Venture

Capital space doesn’t know is that it also operates one of the world’s largest venture capitals. So much so that Tencent has invested in more Unicorns than even SoftBank. It is also a prominent player in the Indian investment space with portfolio companies like Ola and Udaan. While Tencent may not be as visible as SoftBank or Sequoia, it is still one of the biggest players and Newsmakers in the industry.

Accel, a US-based venture capital firm has had a very active year in terms of investments having participated in funding rounds for the likes of Acko, Blackbuck, Ninjacart to name a few. The firm works closely with early-stage startups and has had a considerable amount of visibility, enough to help the firm differentiate itself from the clutter and be included in the top five Newsmakers in the investment space. This was made possible through Accel’s frequent funding announcements across 2019.

About Wizikey:

Wizikey is a PR Software-as-a-Service that uses data and AI to simplify PR, making it transparent and measurable for Fortune 500 companies and startups alike. It enables users with features like realtime media intelligence, helping delivering stories to the right journalist while saving spam, hours of scrutiny and giving brands the voice they need.

Wizikey’s co-founders Anshul and Aakriti have spent over a decade in the communications industry, identifying key problems as they served 300+ businesses. These first principles form the foundation of Wizikey - to make the communications industry efficient, transparent and measurable through the power of data and AI tech. With investors like Ajai Chowdhry (Co-founder, HCL), Alok Mittal (Co-founder and CEO, Indifi), Ambarish Raghuvanshi (ex-CFO, Info Edge), Keshav R Murugesh (CEO, WNS), Raman Roy (Chairman, NASSCOM and Chairman, Quattro), Sanjiv Bajaj (CEO, Bajaj Finserv) and the Indian Angel Fund among others, we strive each day to make PR accessible and simple - for everyone.

Indian Angel Network, IAN Fund Infuse ₹ 160 Cr + into the Startup Ecosystem across 44 Deals in 2019

IAN with its Angel Network and Fund, has now become India’s largest horizontal early- and seed-stage platform, providing money & mentoring, growing young innovative startups of the country.

2019 was a Wrap! IAN (the angel platform and IAN Fund) invested a whopping INR 160 crores in 44 startups across sectors, marking the year as one of the most significant years for not just the platform but the ecosystem at large. IAN Angel Network and IAN Fund both gave cash exits : 11 companies returned cash to their investors at an average multiple of 11X.

Of impact investments and exits – 2019 at a glance

investments in several innovative ventures committed to driving large-scale social impact such as Monitra Healthcare, Chakr Innovation, Nocca Robotics, Mobycy, etc. In each case, the IAN ecosystem opened up its strategic guidance and networks to help these budding enterprises. The year was sharply focused on propositions focused on “needs” coinvesting with the VCs & strategic investors, like DSG Global (Tripti check the name), ONGC,.

2019 also became the year of 11 lucrative exits for IAN investors across high-value companies including Kwench, LBB, TagBox, Propelld, FabAlley, Myspinny, Wow! Momo, Box8, and Native Special. IAN gave an IRR (Internal rate of return) of a whopping 34% to its investors this year. Several portfolio companies like Coolberg, LBB, Bixcrum, Uniphore and StyleDotMe raised their next rounds from marquee VCs and Strategic Investors.

The IAN Platform has played its role in nation building – apart from helping breed innovative startups and mentor entrepreneurs, it has invested in sectors like manufacturing, Cleantech, biotech, water, agritech, cyber security – all focused on creating “New India”. It has simultaneously created companies with a total value of almost US$1.5bn and over 5000 jobs.

2019 was a landmark year, as IAN maiden fund, the IAN Fund, announced its final close at Rs. 375 crores – well above its target corpus of Rs. 350 crores. This early stage VC Fund created aother milestone with most of its money raised domestically – bringing some leading Individuals, Family Offices, Corporates, and the government committing to this unique fund. Investors like Hyundai, IIFL, Wadhwani Foundation, Gray Matters, along with government funds like BIRAC, State government of Kerala, and of course Fund of Funds through SIDBI – have all partnered to bring critical Pre Series A funds to young startups.

IAN has been working closely with the government to help create a more enabling startup ecosystem; with the ghost of the Angel Tax laid to rest. In February this year, with the help of DPIIT, CBDT cleared the way for startups to be exempted from the draconian Section 56 (2) (viib). Startups now started to either get refunds or were exempted from “Angel Tax”. This boosted the startup ecosystem further.

Speaking on closing another successful year, Saurabh Srivasatava, Co-Founder, IAN said, “2019 was quite a landmark year for the Indian start up scene. We saw an extremely welcome trend of high quality founders leveraging the latest technology and innovative business models to build ventures which attempt to solve many of the challenges that India faces, in healthcare, agriculture, clean energy, etc. They are building world class, massively scalable companies which will not only have a hugely beneficial impact on our social and cultural milieu but will also disrupt the global scene in these areas. The level of innovation and aspiration among Indian start-ups has gone up tremendously and they are laying the foundation of a society that would be tech-driven, connected and sustainable. Areas like mobility, EVs, logistics, QSR have seen a spurt and Biotech is Showing clear signs of replicating India’s global dominance in IT.

Padmaja Ruparel, Founding Partner, IAN Fund said, “The ecosystem saw a revival of trust amongst the investor fraternity in 2019. Several startups raised funding across sectors both niche and mainstream such as AI, cleantech, biotech, consumer goods, healthcare, food, and apparel, among others. IAN Fund also successfully closed its first fund worth INR 375 crore, in addition to delivering impressive investor returns with exits from TagBox and Chakra Innovation. As we continue to shape synergies and promote collaborations between emerging business ventures and prominent VCs, the prospects look even more promising in the coming year. We are confident that, with its current growth trajectory, IAN Fund will achieve its objective of enabling the growth of innovative Indian start-ups with high-quality investment opportunities”

Building progressive synergies: Launch of BiAN

Aiming to unlock the immense potential of Indian biotech, Indian Angel Network came into partnership with BIRAC with the launch of BioAngels Network (BiAN) at the Global Bio India 2019. The goal of the initiative is to accelerate the growth of the Indian bioeconomy by facilitating budding innovators with access to capital, mentorship, and growth opportunities.

Driven with the ambition of becoming the single largest national platform for biotech angel investing, BiAN combines the power of regulatory vision and angel investment. The objective is to enable the Indian biotech to surpass USD 100 billion by 2025.

Moving forward, the Network and the Fund together aim to build on their impressive performance and support over 500 Indian start-ups with an investment in excess of INR 5,000 crore in 10 years.

Indian Angel Network is India’s first and world’s largest business angel network with close to 500 members across the world, comprising the who’s who of successful entrepreneurs and dynamic CEOs. With investors from 11 countries, IAN’s presence spans 7 locations, which includes cities in India and the UK. The network is sector agnostic and has funded start-ups across 17 sectors in India and 7 other countries growing global footprint companies. With an excellent track record, IAN has been giving excellent cash exits year-on-year to its investor-members. Some of its marquee investee companies include WebEngage, Druva, Box8, Sapience Analytics, WOW Momos, Consure amongst many others.

Indian Angel Network has been a pioneer in the seed and early-stage investing. The network now also has SEBI registered VC Fund of ₹375 Crores. Together with IAN Angels & IAN Fund, the platform is the single largest platform for seed & early stage, where entrepreneurs can raise from Rs. 25 lakhs to Rs. 50 crores (with co-investors), thus making IAN the platform of choice!

The IAN Fund, an INR 375 crore fund, is a uniquely differentiated seed/early stage Fund which aims to transform India’s entrepreneurial landscape. The fund invests in innovative companies in sectors including healthcare and medical devices, VR, AI, software as a service, marketplaces, fin-tech, big data, artificial intelligence, agritech and hardware. The Fund leverages and builds upon the strengths and success of IAN, the world’s largest angel investor group, to breed and grow innovative companies.

The fund has Institutional investors like SIDBI’s Fund of Funds for Startups, IIFL, Wadhwani Foundation, Yes Bank, Max Group, Gray Matters Capital, Hyundai along with marquee individuals like Kris Gopalakrishnan, Sunil Munjal, Rajan Anandan, Kanwal Rekhi, Vikram Gandhi, Jerry Rao amongst many others. This is the first in a series of Funds so that over the next 10 years, the IAN Platform would invest Rs 5000 Cr in ~500 companies, making it the single largest platform for early stage investing, enabling companies to raise from Rs 25 lakhs to Rs. 50 crores from a single platform, along with co investors, providing startups funding through the most challenging stages of their growth. The IAN fund plays a critical role, not just in plugging the gap in funding, but also in using its vast network to provide strategic mentorship and market access

Venture Capital Industry poised for Growth with Expansion of Investor Class - SIDBI

Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), the apex financial institution engaged in the promotion, financing and development of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), under its World Bank group programme, released the State of Sector report: “Private Investing in India – Venture Capital Focus” which highlights that despite India being one of the fastest growing economies of the world, the Venture Capital (VC) asset class holds a meagre 17 per cent share of private investments in India and has witnessed low capital flows in the past few years. However, SIDBI believes that the VC industry is poised for growth with expansion of investor class and incentives to promote entrepreneurship.

Venture capitalists are investors investing in start-ups and early stage growth companies. In India though the start-ups environment has been supportive, the VC investments have gone into larger funds focusing on later stages of investment, and with a proven track record, or into funds focused on smaller seed / angel stage investments. A funding gap is observed at the mid stages of investment, with a limited number of funds and Limited Partners (LPs) operating in this part of the value chain. Exit scenarios in the Indian market have also contributed to low confidence among investors.

Shri Mohammad Mustafa, IAS, Chairman and Managing Director of SIDBI said, “We believe, an openingup of the investor class and bringing more domestic LPs into the ecosystem will propel industry growth. Creating structures to bring in more domestic capital and involving different investor classes in the ecosystem will provide fund managers with the required funds to invest in start-ups, ultimately leading to the development of more businesses and employment generation. Engaging with LPs through networking events and supporting new funds with risk capital are other potential ways to develop the ecosystem. Improving cash exit opportunities and educating LPs and fund managers about this asset class are other initiatives which need to be taken up on priority, to develop the ecosystem.”

Key highlights of the report are:

• India currently has 195 (~55% of all registered funds in India) active funds (made investments in India since the start of 2017). The VC industry in India has moved from a scale-up phase to an evolving phase, with firms affecting selective deals over the past 3-4 years.


• Total number of deals have declined from ~1,600 in 2015 to ~800 in 2018 while the average deal size has increased from ~USD 1.5 million in 2015 to ~USD 2.1 million in 2018 (deals with value up to USD 20 million).


• IT has emerged as the largest sector in terms of deal value and volume followed by consumer discretionary sector.


• An interesting trend to note is the diversification at later stages of investment. While angel / seed investments primarily go into technology and consumer discretionary, many of the start-ups are not able to achieve scale to raise later stages of investments.


• The latest trends have also seen funds across stages shift towards traditional businesses which have technology as an enabler. Sectors such as healthcare, vernacular and natural language processing and e-tailing have thus come up and are receiving a higher share of VC investment.


• The ecosystem for angel / seed stage has evolved with a growing number of start-ups and an increasing number of funds and investments at the angel / seed stage, over the past 10 years. However, the ecosystem for other stages of investment is still evolving.

Villgro announces Investments to the tune of Rs 4 Crore through iPitch at Unconvention 2019

This year’s iPitch investees include Flexmotiv, Cultyvate, Kritsnam, BeAble Health, among other social sector start-ups

Villgro, India’s oldest and foremost social enterprise incubator, today announced its 2019 investees for iPitch. This year, iPitch has facilitated funding of over Rs 4 crore for innovative start-ups across the Agribusiness, Health, and Renewable Energy domains. 

Villgro India was the lead investor for start-ups in the health sector. It focused on tech-backed assistive technologies that can provide freedom to individuals with disabilities. BeAble Health, a manufacturer of rehabilitation and medical devices received INR 25,00,000. Flexmotiv Technologies, which creates anti-slip, all-terrain crutches, received INR 25,00,000 as well. 

Villgro, in partnership with Hindustan Unilever Foundation (HUF), funded 4 start-ups dedicated to the conservation and management of water in agriculture. Kritsnam Technologies is building IoT solutions – which is a data driven water management solution, manage water resources - lakes, rivers, canals and reservoirs. The start-up has received INR 50,00,000. Oscillo Machines is working to build farm equipment for challenges that have not been solved yet. Their first product is an electric paddy seedling transplanter for use in traditional small fields. It is designed for use by women, who dominate the workforce in transplanting. It has bagged INR 30,00,000 from HUF and Villgro. 

Cultyvate integrates IoT, Artificial Intelligence, Remote Sensing and Machine Learning to create smart irrigation services to improve crop yield. The start-up has received INR 50,00,000. Urdhvam has been awarded INR 30,00,000 from Villgro and HUF for its innovative ‘BoreCharger - a robotic drill that helps rejuvenate dried borewells. Further, Villgro USA is actively considering an additional two investments, which are expected to close in the near future.

In a noteworthy development, existing Villgro incubatee - Lal10, which offers mobile handheld CRMs, helping thousands of artisans to connect with global inventors - has received USD 100,000 from Upaya Social Ventures & Beyond Capital Fund. Villgro has announced investment in Ameliorate Biotech for INR 65 Lakhs, along with SINE, IIT Bombay. 

Speaking on the funding, Paul Basil, Founder and CEO, Villgro, said, “The amount of funding offered to these disruptive early stage start-ups through iPitch is truly a cause for celebration. We need more such start-ups that solve real problems and hold the potential to truly revolutionize the start-up landscape of the country. On our part, we will continue to empower such paradigm-shifting start-ups with funding, mentoring, go-to-market strategies and much more in order to steer them towards resounding success.”

As always, the iPitch investees were announced at Villgro’s annual Unconvention conference - one of India’s largest gatherings of leading social entrepreneurs, CSR professionals, investors, policymakers, and academia, to discuss the present and future of the India social sector. The investments will truly accelerate the growth of the winning start-ups, giving a fillip to India’s fast-growing social sector. 

Villgro is India's oldest and one of the world's largest social enterprise incubators. Established in 2001, Villgro creates impactful, innovative and successful enterprises in Education, Health, Agribusiness, and Energy.

Since 2001, Villgro has supported 300+ social enterprises that have raised over INR 1270 Million in investments, to create more than 3500 jobs and impact over 20 million lives. Apart from India, Villgro also supports social enterprises in Kenya, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

Venture Garage Announces the FY2019-20 Edition of the “Find Your Investor” Programme Supported by Kotak

On the back of a successful Find Your Investor (FYI) series in 2018, Venture Garage, in association with Kotak Mahindra Bank (Kotak), has announced the FY2019-20 edition of the power-packed fund raising platform for start-ups. FYI is the annual fundraising program organised by Venture Garage where they take start-ups through the journey of raising capital, including aspects such as legal, banking and documentation requirements during fundraising; one-on-one interactions between start-ups and investors; discussion on the investment views of leading VC/angel investors of India; networking and much more.

Find Your Investors Series 2019-20 in 5 Indian cities



At each of the five cities, 50 carefully selected start-ups from all across India get a chance to pitch their business ideas to investors to raise capital. The FY2019-20 edition of FYI will take place in Hyderabad on 29th November, 2019; in Bengaluru on 13th December, 2019; in Mumbai on 10th January, 2020; in Pune on 23rd January, 2020, with the final chapter of the series taking place in Chandigarh on 7th February 2020. The FY2019-20 FYI series will host 500+ entrepreneurs and 40+ Investors, including India’s most active VCs such as Inventus Capital Partners, Matrix Partners, Artha Venture Fund, 7 Gate Ventures, RPSG Ventures, Orios Venture Partners among others.

Puneet Kapoor, Senior Executive Vice President, Kotak Mahindra Bank, said, “It’s a daunting task to be an entrepreneur with a number of obstacles to be overcome, especially in the initial stages of a start-up. Kotak has always worked to fulfil the aspirations of entrepreneurs who dare to dream big. Every dream involves money and the Kotak Start-Up Current Account is customised to meet the unique requirements of a start-up and help it realise its full business potential. We are pleased to be associated with the FYI series by Venture Garage.”

Aanchal Saini, CEO of Flyrobe, India’s number 1 fashion renting platform said, ”Venture Garage has been associated with us for over two years now and I am glad I joined them for the Find Your Investor series in all the four cities last year. Venture Garage has mastered the recipe for a perfect start-up event with their FYI series where early stage start-ups get to learn about the nuances of fund raising like how to pitch to investors, how to make your business plan/financial projections, legal and banking needs during the fund raise process, networking with investors and other things that an entrepreneur requires to fulfil his/her dreams. The most exciting part is the opportunity to pitch to investors in a one-on-one format to raise funding and see your dreams as an entrepreneur come true. I wish all the start-ups participating in FYI all the very best. Do make the most of it.”

Rahul Nehra, Co-founder & CEO of Jadooz, a cinema and entertainment chain backed by Artha Venture Fund, TV Celebrity Rannvijay Singh and Actor Ravi Kishan, said, “This platform that Venture Garage is giving to start-ups is exactly what an entrepreneur needs to enable his vision. FYI was our first serious pitch across the table with some of the leading VCs of India and today we are funded by Artha Venture Fund & Celebrity Rannvijay Singh. Venture Garage took care of the entire fund raising process including finding investors and managing the transaction, while Kotak fulfilled all our banking needs. If you are a start-up raising your 1st or 2nd round of capital, then FYI is the place to be.“

“India is an emerging market for start-ups and VC investments. Most start-ups are still struggling to make themselves funding ready and then find the right platform to connect with investors. At FYI, we have a simple goal of making fundraising easy for start-ups. The 4-hour journey at each FYI event is about a deeper dive into fundraising, followed by interactions between the most promising start-ups and VC/angel investors to drive early-stage start-up investments. Start-ups that pitched at the FYI FY2018-19 series raised a cumulative of INR 18 crore+ in seed/angel/pre-series A investments from investors and we hope to deliver an equally exciting FY2019-20 series,” Vivek Kumar, Co-founder & CEO, Venture Garage.

FYI FY2018-19 was a huge success with over 50 VCs/angel investors and 700 entrepreneurs attending the programme in Delhi, Gurugram, Jaipur & Chandigarh. Some of the investors who participated included Ravi Kaushik, WaterBridge Ventures; Girish Shivani, YourNest Venture Capital; Pranav Gupta, Carpediem Capital; Kunal Khattar, AdvantEdge VC; Rajesh Sehgal, Equanimity Investments; Addison Appu, ThinKuvate; Aayush Jain, Ex-Unicorn Ventures; Ojasvi Babber, Amity Capital Ventures among many others. The total funding raised by start-ups that pitched at FYI FY2018-19 stood at over INR 18 crore.

For more details on FYI FY2019-20 and to register, please visit www.venturegarage.in/fyi.

About Venture Garage

Venture Garage handholds startups to help them raise capital from its network of 700+ Angel Investors, Venture Capitalists, Strategic Investors and Family Funds. Venture Garage specializes in early-stage investments across Seed to Series B stages starting from $100K to $5mil. Established in 2015 and with offices present in Mumbai, Bengaluru and NCR, Venture Garage also manages a network of 30,000+ entrepreneurs.

For more information, please visit the company’s website at www.venturegarage.in.

About Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited

Established in 1985, Kotak Mahindra Group is one of India's leading financial services conglomerates. In February 2003, Kotak Mahindra Finance Ltd. (KMFL), the Group's flagship company, received banking license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), becoming the first non-banking finance company in India to convert into a bank - Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd.

The Bank has four Strategic Business Units – Consumer Banking, Corporate Banking, Commercial Banking and Treasury, which cater to retail and corporate customers across urban and rural India. The premise of Kotak Mahindra Group’s business model is concentrated India, diversified financial services. The bold vision that underscores the Group’s growth is an inclusive one, with a host of products and services designed to address the needs of the unbanked and insufficiently banked. As on 30th September, 2019, Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd has a national footprint of 1,512 branches and 2,429 ATMs, and branches in GIFT City and DIFC (Dubai).

For more information, please visit the company’s website at www.kotak.com.

Nazara to Invest $20 Million in Startups in 2020

Nazara Technologies Ltd., India’s leading interactive gaming and sports media company is also one of the biggest investors and scaling platforms for startups in the gaming and sports ecosystem in India. Nazara today announces its acceleration of investments and commitments of up to USD 20 Million in startups in India, Africa and Middle East in 2020. The company has already undertaken transactions worth USD 50 Million in 13 startups in the last two years and has been the most aggressive investor in the gaming and sports ecosystem in India.

Nazara aims to act as a catalyst to further expedite growth of gaming; esports and sports content across emerging markets. Nazara plans to infuse risk and growth capital in the selected startups besides offering mentorship via the founders of the companies from Nazara’s current portfolio of investments and Nazara’s leadership team. 

Besides fund infusion and mentorship, the startup teams can tap into the vast geographical reach of Nazara’s business operations spanning across Africa, Middle East, South East Asia and the Indian Sub-Continent. They will have access to local payment options with ready-made legal infrastructure to expand into the above geographies apart from reaching out to Nazara’s network of over 100 Million plus monthly active users in India.

The startups will also get an opportunity to leverage network of experts across financial and legal strategy, brand and performance marketing; media ad sales; brand solutions in addition to running games as services.

Nazara Technologies Ltd., CEO, Manish Agarwal says, “Looking at the explosive growth in the interactive entertainment and sports ecosystem, Nazara has decided to up its aggression on investing in the emerging market ecosystem and support early stage startups accelerating the growth of these companies and of the industry at large.”

In the past, Nazara has looked at speed-scaling 13 startups providing them with growth capital.  The company plans to apply a similar model for the next set of startups as well while aiming at targeted mentorship on business model refinement and go-to-market strategies. Nazara expects to see the same leadership growth with the new cohort that has been witnessed with the previous set of startups funded by the company.

About Nazara Technologies Ltd. 

Nazara Technologies Limited (‘Nazara’) is a leading global interactive gaming and sports media company headquartered in Mumbai, India. Nazara has business operations in 64 countries across emerging markets with services in India, Singapore, Dubai, Mauritius and subsidiary companies in Africa. The company has a diversified portfolio of gaming businesses across free to play mobile games, real money skill gaming, esports and gaming subscription services. 

Nazara has a network of over 100 Million players in India. The company has taken licensed mobile gaming rights to popular Indian IP characters like Chhota Bheem, Motu Patlu, Mighty Raju, Shikari Shambhu, Roll #21, Eena Meena Deeka, Oggy and the Cockroaches and Shin Chan. Nazara also owns IP’s like World Cricket Championship (WCC), EPIC Cricket, India Premiership and IPG.TV.

Nazara is also an investor in the gaming and sports ecosystem in India and has consummated transactions worth 50 Million USD in the last 2 years. The company has acquired a majority stake in Next Wave Multimedia Pvt. Ltd., Nodwin Gaming Pvt. Ltd and HalaPlay Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Nazara’s other investee companies include, Mastermind Sports Ltd., Moonglabs Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Bakbuck, CrimzonCode, InstaSportz and NZWorld (NZWorld Kenya Ltd.) to set up operations for real money gaming in Kenya.

Founded by Nitish Mittersain in 2000, Nazara is backed by marquee investors which include West Bridge Capital, IIFL Special Opportunities Fund; Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and Turtle Entertainment GmbH, the IP owner of the world’s largest esports franchise (ESL). 

Venture Catalysts launches 'FamilyOffice' Initiative to Facilitate Startup Investments for Family owned Biz and Corporate Houses

Family businesses are the oldest and most recognized model of economic organization. Some of the biggest business houses and corporations today started out as family run enterprises which went on to become highly successful and diverse economic giants.

In order to facilitate these businesses enter the start-up ecosystem and presenting start-up investment as a high potential asset class, Venture Catalysts, India’s first, largest and pioneering integrated incubator and accelerator platform, recently launched the FamilyOffice initiative, a network to connect family owned business houses and big corporates with the most promising start-ups. The event was held recently in Mumbai and was attended by leading business figures such as Family Office of Marico and Promoters of Family owned businesses of Ddecor, UB Cotton, RAS Group and Donear Industries.

In its capacity, Venture Catalysts will be playing the role of a facilitator, extending complete support in identification, curation, diligence and post investment procedures leveraging its massive expertise in the domain.

FamilyOffice will serve as the one-stop enabler for its network members to invest in the most promising start-ups across sectors from Angel stage of funding to Series B. The initiative aims to significantly boost the prospects of India’s thriving start-up ecosystem by bringing more funding opportunities and projecting the segment as a lucrative investment alternative and an ideal way to diversify enterprise portfolio.

Commenting on the initiative, Dr. Apoorv Ranjan Sharma, President and Co-founder, Venture Catalysts said, “The FamilyOffice network is the first-of-its-kind network dedicated at integrating family owned business houses and big corporate houses into India’s start-up fabric. Through our business interactions, we realized a large number of legacy business houses wanted to take an active part in the start-up ecosystem, but were unsure where to start from. FamilyOffice will fill this need gap, guiding them in a sustained manner to ensure their investment decisions are optimized. FamilyOffice’s operations will be spread across Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, London, Dubai and Singapore, anchoring the best deals involving both national and international stakeholders.”

Highlighting the need for such initiatives, Atul Nishar, Founder and Chairman of Hexaware Technologies and a member of the NASSCOM Executive Council, said “For a family office right asset allocation is very important to maximise returns & reduce risk. Investing in the exciting new world of startups upto certain % of wealth - say 5 % to 15 % can improve overall returns.”

Amit Patni, Director of Campden Family Connect, a JV between Amit’s family office RAAY Global Investments and UK based Campden Wealth added, “Family Offices represent some of the long-term capital in today’s markets. However, the investment process varies depending on the vintage, experience, and maturity of the office. A Family Office generally has a large quantum of wealth and prefers long-term investments as every Family invests with an aim to not just grow but also preserve wealth across generations. Hence, deals are evaluated not only from a profit-making perspective but also in alignment with a family’s value system. Having a platform that can assist in identifying a fine-tuned and a well-researched pitch that aligns with the value framework will help family offices a lot. At the same time, entrepreneurs and start-ups can tap into this pool of funds and leverage on the entrepreneurial DNA running in the family.”

Venture Catalysts has established itself as the single most dedicated platform aimed at taking the Indian start-up ecosystem from strength to strength. It has empowered start-ups as well as investors throughout the country through its massive, streamlined and highly transparent network aimed at offering promising ideas and talented teams the best ecosystem to grow their businesses in. Recently, Venture Catalysts also started 9Unicorns, India’s first accelerated VC programme aimed at finding the next ‘unicorn’ businesses emerging from India.

Venture Catalysts is India’s first integrated incubator. It invests $250K – $1.5 Million in early stage startups that has potential to create enduring value for over a long period of time. Venture Catalysts brings lethal combination of Capital, Mentoring and Business Network to help investee companies to succeed. Our innovation provides value to startups through its angel network, funding, community, services and co-working facility.