Under 'FICCI for Start-ups' Initiative, FICCI and IAN to Launch Social Venture Fund to Help Startups Financially

FICCI, on Thursday, launched India's first 'FICCI for Start-ups' initiative which will provide a wide range of services and benefits to the Indian start-ups. The prime aim of this initiative will be to provide a voice to start-ups in India.

Addressing the launch webinar of 'FICCI for Start-ups', Dr Sangita Reddy, President, FICCI said, "Start-ups are immensely essential to the growth of a nation's economy. FICCI Start-ups is envisioned to help young Indian entrepreneurs to create a vibrant economy. This is the time to say Silicon Valley here we come."

Dr Reddy further said that these benefits will be offered to the FICCI Start-up members and the start-up membership is being offered free of cost till December 31, 2020. "Any start-up taking membership over the next three months can avail the benefit package without any cost for the next one year," she added.

Dr Ajai Chowdhry, Chairman, FICCI Start-up Committee & Founder, HCL said that FICCI is the first global chamber to create a special program for Start-ups. The 'FICCI Start-up' ecosystem will provide complete solution that any Start-up will require. 

Dr. Chowdhry further said --

We are Looking at a range of services to provide to all start-ups. We are working on existing and new Mentorships and a lot of these programs will be opened up for members. Entrepreneurs will help them in building relationships with accelerators, incubators, and angel funding. We will soon be launching FICCI-IAN social venture fund to financially support the Indian Start-ups,

Ms Aastha Grover, Head Startup India Hub said, "Today, 45 percent of start-ups are coming from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities with at least one start-up from each state and union territory in India. With the support of the State governments, industry association and stakeholders, India is the 3rd largest ecosystem when it comes to Start-ups.

Mr Dilip Chenoy, Secretary General, FICCI said that over the last decade, even before start-ups was a common word in the lexicon in India, FICCI had been playing an important role in fostering the Indian Innovation and entrepreneurship system in the country. "We are currently implementing 14+ national and global programs through PPP to encourage and enable start-ups to grow and creating joint ventures of start-ups between India and countries in Africa and Latin America and more recently in Russia.

A comprehensive benefit package has been developed by FICCI under the said initiative which includes connecting start-ups to FICCI corporate members, mentorship by industry experts, direct connect to the Indian Angel Network, access to soon to be set up FICCI-IAN social venture fund, access to FICCI innovation and start-up programs, exhibitions, delegations, conferences at special costs, connect to the global investor community, policy advocacy with the government on behalf of start-up members among others.

These benefits will be offered to the FICCI Start-up members, membership for which is being offered free of cost till December 31, 2020. Any start-up taking membership over the next three months can avail the benefit package without any cost for the next one year.

The official logo for 'FICCI for Start-ups' was also unveiled during the launch event.

FICCI's start-up committee is backed by stalwarts including Mr Saurabh Srivastava, Ms Padmaja Ruparel, Mr Naganand Doraswamy, Mr Ullas Kamath, Mr Yogesh Andlay among others.

Since 2007, FICCI has been providing funding, capacity building and market access under several public-private programmes to the Indian start-ups. Having supported 1000+ startups/innovators till date with over Rs 125 Crores, FICCI has been an active player in the start-up ecosystem. Start-up enterprises supported by FICCI have been able to generate 140,000+ jobs and leverage over five times from external market sources. Over 100 companies have been provided access to global markets across US, South Asia and Africa.

Source - Ficci.in

Hurun India Top Unicorn Investors List 2020 - Sequoia Tops List followed by Softbank, Steadview Capital

• 18 INVESTORS INVESTED IN THREE OR MORE INDIAN UNICORNS
• SEQUOIA CAPITAL TOPS THE LIST BY INVESTING IN 9 INDIAN UNICORNS
• NEXT LEADING INVESTORS, SOFTBANK AND STEADVIEW CAPITAL INVESTED IN 7 INDIAN UNICORNS EACH
• RATAN TATA’S RNT ASSOCIATES AMONGST THE TOP SEVEN INVESTORS IN INDIAN UNICORNS

The Hurun Research Institute today released the Hurun India Top Unicorn Investors List 2020. The release sequels the launch of Hurun India Unicorn List 2020 on the 2^nd week of August. In order to identify the investors, we used regulatory filings and feedback from the VC funds. The list is a compilation of all the investment firms that have invested into three or more India-based unicorns as of 20^th August 2020. This list is Hurun’s very first attempt in showcasing the success stories of investors who have endorsed their trust in unicorns from India.

Hurun Report India MD and Chief Researcher Anas Rahman Junaid said: “These investors play a significant role in accelerating the creation of new wealth in India. The success of these investors goes on to show that Indian HNIs should actively start allocating part of their portfolio towards start-ups.”

Top 5 Unicorn Investors

The top five unicorn investors are those who have invested in at least five unicorns in India. The Indian arm of American investment firm Sequoia Capital tops the list since it has invested in 9 Indian unicorns. The second position is shared by Japan’s SoftBank and UK’s Steadview Capital. They have invested in 7 Indian unicorns, each. While the subsequent positions are held by one and two investors, respectively. Given below are the top 5 unicorn investor rankings:

Table 1: Top 6 Hurun India Unicorn Investors 2020

Rank	Investor	No. of Unicorn Investments	HQ Country	Unicorn Investments
1	Sequoia	9	USA	Byju's, OYO Rooms, Ola Cabs, Paytm Mall, Zomato, Unacademy, Druva, Freshworks, BigBasket
2	SoftBank	7	Japan	Paytm, OYO Rooms, Ola Cabs, Delhivery, FirstCry, Lenskart, PolicyBazaar
2	Steadview Capital	7	UK	Ola Cabs, Lenskart, PolicyBazaar, Unacademy, Dream11, Nykaa, Freshworks
4	SAIF Partners	6	India	Paytm, Paytm Mall, Swiggy, FirstCry, Rivigo, Unacademy
5	Matrix Partners	5	India	Ola Cabs, Zomato, Ola Electric, Freshworks, BigBasket
5	Nexus Venture Partners	5	USA	Zomato, Delhivery, Unacademy, Druva, Postman

Source: Hurun Research Institute

Sequoia. American venture capital firm Sequoia Capital made its debut in India in 2006. Till date, Sequoia has closed seven funds in India. In July 2020, it announced its intentions to invest US$1.35 billion through a venture fund of US$525 million and a growth fund of US$825 million. Geographically, both these funds will be focussed on making investments in India and South East Asia.

SoftBank. Japan’s SoftBank has invested to some of the leading unicorns in India. The fund’s leader, Masayoshi Son is known for his expertise and vision in placing smart bets on the global unicorns. In 2018, the investment giant gained 60% returns on its US$2.5 billion investment in Indian e-commerce company Flipkart. It is considered to be one of the biggest achievements of SoftBank in Indian market, that too in a single year’s period. 

Steadview Capital. In 2014, UK-based Steadview Capital made its first investment in Urban Ladder, an Indian online furniture company. A recent disclosure to a news reporting agency by the firm’s founder, Ravi Mehta said that the fund has invested a sum of US$2 billion in India. Indian origin Mehta founded the investment firm in 2009. The firm focusses on making investments into ventures that are primarily based in Asia.

SAIF Partners. SAIF Partners is on the fourth position of the Hurun India Unicorn Investor List 2020. While having worth US$3 billion in total assets under management, the investment firm largely focuses on investing in early-stage start-ups. In 2019, the company invested in 15 investments in India. The company has already announced its plans to repeat this feat in 2020 as well.

Matrix Partners. Since its establishment in India in 2006, Matrix Partners has invested more than US$1 billion in the Indian market. The firm is a subsidiary of USA’s Matrix Partners and participates as an early-stage investor in the market. In its third and latest fund, Matrix Partners India raised US$300 million.

Nexus Ventures. The fifth position is shared by Nexus Venture Partners. Nexus is an investment firm that primarily focusses on making investments in the USA and India. The fund follows an investment pattern of investing early on in the companies. It commenced its operations in 2006, after it was found by Naren Gupta, Sandip Singhal and Suvir Sujan. In May 2019, Nexus raised an estimated sum of more than US$300 million for its fifth investment fund.

Investors investing in 3 or more Indian Unicorns

Given below are the investment firms who have invested in at least 3 India-based unicorns. The investments made by the investment companies/funds and their respective investment vehicles have been clubbed together for better understanding.

Table 2: Hurun India Top Unicorn Investors List 2020

Rank	Investor	No. of Unicorn Investments	HQ Country	Unicorn Investments
1	Sequoia	9	USA	Byju's, OYO Rooms, Ola Cabs, Paytm Mall, Zomato, Unacademy, Druva, Freshworks, BigBasket
2	SoftBank	7	Japan	Paytm, OYO Rooms, Ola Cabs, Delhivery, FirstCry, Lenskart, PolicyBazaar
2	Steadview Capital	7	UK	Ola Cabs, Lenskart, PolicyBazaar, Unacademy, Dream11, Nykaa, Freshworks
4	SAIF Partners	6	India	Paytm, Paytm Mall, Swiggy, FirstCry, Rivigo, Unacademy
5	Matrix Partners	5	India	Ola Cabs, Zomato, Ola Electric, Freshworks, BigBasket
5	Nexus Venture Partners	5	USA	Zomato, Delhivery, Unacademy, Druva, Postman
7	ABG Capital	4	USA	Ola Cabs, Lenskart, PolicyBazaar, Unacademy
7	Alibaba Group	4	Singapore	Paytm, Paytm Mall, Zomato, BigBasket
7	RNT Associates	4	India	Ola Cabs, Zomato, Lenskart, FirstCry
7	Tiger Global Management	4	USA	Ola Cabs, PolicyBazaar, Delhivery, Freshworks
12	Accel	3	USA	Ola Cabs, Swiggy, Freshworks
13	Bennett Coleman and Company	3	India	Byju's, BigBasket, Delhivery
14	Bessemer India Capital Holdings	3	USA	Ola Cabs, Swiggy, BigBasket
15	Chiratae Ventures	3	India	Lenskart, FirstCry, PolicyBazaar
16	General Atlantic Singapore	3	Singapore	Byju's, BillDesk, Unacademy
17	International Finance Corporation	3	USA	Byju's, Lenskart, BigBasket
18	LTR Focus Fund	3	Mauritius	Ola Cabs, Lenskart, PolicyBazaar
19	Tencent Holdings	3	China	Byju's, Swiggy, Dream11

Source: Hurun Research Institute

Methodology

The Hurun India Unicorn Investor List 2020 is compiled by the Hurun Research Institute by studying the regulatory filings of the unicorns. Wherever possible, the data collected has been cross-checked from the investors ranked in the list. The cut-off date used for studying the investment structures of unicorns is 20 August 2020. This list pertains to current unicorns only. For instance, investment into Flipkart has not been considered for the report as Flipkart is no longer a unicorn.

The Unicorn Investor List follows the release of Hurun India Unicorn List 2020. The former list is an attempt to present the investor information related to the latter. For the full version of Hurun India Unicorn Index 2020 and Hurun Global Unicorn Index 2020, refer www.hurunindia.net.

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.

Info Edge Creates Rs 750 Crore War Chest for its Maiden VC Fund to Invest in Tech Start-ups

Sanjeev Bikhchandani-led Info Edge, which owns and operates India's largest online job portal Naukri.com, has created a Rs 750 crore war chest for its maiden venture capital fund to invest in tech start-ups.

Noida-based Info Edge on Thursday informed stock exchanges that it has set up Info Edge Venture Fund (IEVF) to invest in "tech and tech-enabled entities that provide technology to create, market and distribute innovative products and services that benefit consumers at large."

While the filing put the contribution in the new fund at Rs 100 crore, sources in the company said what is being mentioned is just the initial amount and the planned fund size is Rs 750 crore.

Further contributions will be made into the Fund as investment opportunities are identified, they said, adding that the company management expects internal accruals from operations will be more than adequate for this purpose.

Info Edge, by setting up its own investment vehicle, joins the likes of home-grown technology titans Infosys and Wipro. Most other large Indian corporates have primarily preferred to invest from their respective balance sheets.

While Wipro through its strategic investment arm Wipro Ventures has closed its second investment fund - the USD 150 million Fund-II, Infosys - that launched its Innovation Fund in 2015, has invested in multiple startups.

On Thursday, Info Edge announced an investment of Rs 100 crore into a Category II AIF Info Edge Venture Fund sponsored by its wholly-owned subsidiary Smartweb Internet Services Ltd. This had led to some speculation that Info Edge has set up a 100 crore VC fund for investment in tech start-ups.

Sources said Rs 100 crore was only the initial capital and the corpus was as large as Rs 750 crore.

In the last three years, Info Edge has invested around Rs 800 crore in external start-ups, either directly or through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, and the investing activity is likely to continue at the same rate.

The Info Edge external investing programme is widely regarded as a success by both shareholders and the start-up community.

It has been a prolific investor in India's startup ecosystem, having backed companies, which have since then, emerged as some of the country's most richly-valued ventures, such as food delivery and restaurant recommendation company Zomato, and online insurance aggregator PolicyBazaar, both of which are in the fabled unicorn club.

Being the first investor in unicorns like Zomato and Policybazaar, it continues to be a meaningful shareholder in them.

Sources said as the investing activity has grown, the company felt the need to create an AIF through which investments would be made. This investment vehicle is a preferred route for a number of reasons, they said.

First, it would be more entrepreneur-friendly from a compliance, regulatory and angel tax perspective. Second, it would bring increased rigour and discipline into the Company's investment strategy. Third, it would bring more focus on the exit strategy. Fourth it would provide a structure where the company can attract and retain the best talent for VC investing through alignment of interests.

Sources also clarified that Info Edge Ventures will focus on making financial investments into start-ups. Strategic investments into start-ups in the jobs, real estate, matrimony, and education classified space will continue to be made directly through the parent Info Edge and its subsidiaries, as will acquisitions and any follow-up investments in existing portfolio companies.

The team managing new Investments at Info Edge Ventures will continue to manage the existing financial investment portfolio as well. And the team managing strategic investments (non-financial investments) shall remain the same as earlier. PTI ANZ ANZ

Venture Highway Raises $78.6 Mn for their 2nd Fund Focused on Seed Investments in India

Early stage venture capital firm, Venture Highway, raised $78.6 million for its second fund focused on technology seed investments in India. A large part of the fresh raise will be used for new investments in approximately thirty early

stage companies over the life of this fund. Founded in 2015, Venture Highway is known for its bets in disruptive startups like Meesho, Sharechat, Moglix, O4S, Wishfin and WMall.

The Fund was started as a passion to give back to the startup ecosystem in India and has investments by Samir Sood and Neeraj Arora who are friends from Google. Having worked with global firms such as Google, Microsoft and Cisco Systems, Samir’s professional journey spans roles in building a family business in India, making early-stage technology investments and leading mergers and acquisitions globally and in Asia. Neeraj Arora, the former Global Business Head at WhatsApp is an advisor and the founding anchor Limited Partner based in Silicon Valley.

The Fund is a founder-focused seed fund and partners with the next generation of Indian technology entrepreneurs by providing guidance and early rounds of institutional capital. Backed by iconic investors from Silicon Valley, the average cheque size for this Fund is expected to be a million dollars. Venture Highway seeks to partner with capital efficient technology businesses and add value through their global and local networks.

[caption id="attachment_141024" align="alignleft" width="300"] Samir Sood, Founder, Venture Highway[/caption]

On the new fund, Samir Sood, Founder, Venture Highway LLP, an advisor entity, commented, “We are extremely passionate about helping advise technology entrepreneurs build their businesses with our local and global networks. Our goal is to give back to our country’s early-stage ecosystem and we continue to be extremely excited about the quality of the current generation of entrepreneurs building large businesses out of India.”

Venture Highway has now become an institution to help drive the early stage technology ecosystem in India. The first fund backed great founders in category leaders such as Meesho and Sharechat, which are among the top 30 soonicorns in India. Some of its

other early investments have been in renowned startups such as Moglix, OkCredit, Tracxn, Cars24 and Wishfin.

About Venture Highway

Venture Highway (www.venturehighway.vc) has a deep Silicon Valley connection through its founders and investors. The team adds value through its local and global networks and experiences. The Venture Highway LLP entity was bootstrapped and founded by Samir Sood (ex-Google) and is advised by Neeraj Arora (Founding anchor LP of Venture Highway and former Global Business Head, WhatsApp), based in Silicon Valley.

Indian VCs Supports 100X.VC's Early Stage Fund Initiatives to Invest in 100 Co.s Every Year using i-SAFE Notes

Ever since 100X.VC announced its ambitious drive to invest in 100 startups every year, four months ago; there has been a lot of buzz around this measure in the industry. Industry leaders and VCs have applauded, extending formal support with official quotes and hold high hopes from 100X.VC since its launch. They believe that 100X.VC's idea to build a strong deal flow of seed funded startups by simplifying investment documentation using i-SAFE notes is very unique and disruptive.

“The priorities of founders at seed stage is to build the product, get early traction and validate their business model. Fund raising is not their expertise but they are forced to do it. At 100X.VC, we have worked hard to make funding simplified by the introduction of i-SAFE notes. This method has been welcomed by Founders and Indian Venture Capital Industry as a whole.”, says Yagnesh Sanghrajka, CFO at 100X.VC.

The 100X.VC's investment model simplifies the funding process for the selected 100 startups, immensely. It begins by evaluating companies for the next round easily and getting rid of the time-consuming criterions, like the need to state pre-money or post money valuation and long agreements.

Further, 100X.VC is a sector agnostic fund focusing on startups having disruptive business models, high growth potential and the ability to scale. The firm aims to be the first institutional investor in the companies that it chooses to back. 100X.VC goes beyond funding and opens network, expertise and resources that assist founders in crafting a scalable business model.

Ninad Karpe, Partner at 100X.VC says “We are overwhelmed by the support from the industry. It talks volumes about the 100X.VC team reputation. We look forward to work closely with all the industry stakeholders in the best interest of Indian startup founders. 100X.VC is all set for the VC Pitch Day to showcase the Class 01 of 2019 on 7th Dec at IIT Bombay."

The 100X.VC's initiative is supported by a significant segment of VCs, Angel Investors, Family Office as well as Corporate Venture Capital Firms.

100X.VC received support from following partners -

Venture Capitalists: India Quotient, Unicorn India Ventures, CIO Angel Network, Parampara Capital, JSW Ventures, ITI Growth Opportunities Venture Fund, Sixth Sense Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, Indian Angel Network, Society for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (SINE), IIT Bombay, 3one4 Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, Kae Capital, Alacrity India Fund, Lets Venture, YourNest Venture Capital, 8i Ventures, MF Advisors to Mayfield India.

Family Offices: Patni Family Office - Campden Family Connect, Snow Leopard Ventures Kirloskar Family, Darda Family Office - Lokmat Media.

Corporate Venture Capital Firms: JioGenNext, ICICI Bank, Edelweiss Asset Management, NASSCOM and Onward Group

Super Angels: Anupam Mittal, Vikram Upadhyaya.

Gaurav Sachdeva, Managing Partner, JSW Ventures, said, "We look forward to working with 100X.VC by integrating their investments into our deal pipeline and for value-adds to our portfolio companies. We also think that iSAFE was a much needed intervention in early stage financing; it will help streamline funding, reduce negotiation time so that the founders and 100X.VC can focus on what they do best - building world-class companies."

Niren Shah, Managing Director, Norwest Venture Partners, said, "100X.VC is an excellent initiative that will support early stage companies and thereby strengthen the thriving VC ecosystem in India. More than just the capital, 100X.VC’s vision to provide mentorship, resources and expertise would help the founders to adopt best practices and build sustainable, capital efficient businesses. A differentiated approach through the use simplistic, standardized terms for the deal and a peg to future valuations makes the early stage fund raising process more efficient and ensures founders focus on building the business (than just fund raising)."

"100X.VC would be a high quality sourcing channel for us at Norwest Venture Partners as we participate in mid to late stage venture deals. Sanjay has been a successful angel investor in the past and we have extremely high regards for what he has achieved. We look forward to partnering with 100X.VC in the future," Niren Shah said.

"Super-excited about the launch of 100X.VC. While India’s early-stage eco-system has grown remarkably over the last few years, India is still starved of quality startups. As the name suggests, we need 100 X more and so its encouraging to see Sanjay and team building a feeder system for the same. I would think of this as a major catalyst moment for India’s startup world and I am looking forward to partnering with 100X.VC on this journey." - Anupam Mittal, Founder & CEO, People Group.

"100X.VC is a great platform created by Sanjay to bring budding entrepreneurs and start-ups together where, they not only get funding but also mentoring from experienced serial entrepreneurs like Sanjay himself and the entire eco-system which he brings behind 100X.VC. Also, creating a systematic platform with strategies like iSAFE ensures a smooth ride for both, the investors and the founders." - Amit Patni, Co-founder & Chairman, Patni Family Office - Campden Family Connect.

100X.VC is India's first Fund to invest in early stage startups using iSAFE - India SAFE Notes. The fund is sponsored by Mehta Ventures, the Family Office Investment arm of Sanjay Mehta, to nurture innovative ideas that add value and bring solutions to a problem. 100X.VC values its relationships with founders, co-investors, corporations and investment bankers and effectively becomes the coach, strategy consultant, investment banker, business mentor and trusted advisor of the startup after investing.

VC Firm Windrose Capital to Invest upto $30 Mn in Start-Ups across India

Windrose Capital declared the initial close of “The Next Billion Fund” which will invest up to $30 Million in early stage high growth start-ups across India. Windrose Capital is spearheading the Venture Capital industry in Pune, with “The Next Billion Fund” being the 1st regulated VC Fund from the city. 

In a short span of time since the fund launch, Windrose Capital has already made investments in multiple start-ups from the financial services, healthcare logistics, and the AI-based data insights space. The firm is in advanced talks with over a dozen more companies from different sectors and will be looking to complete several more investments before the end of this quarter.

Windrose Capital believes that India is on the cusp of a transformation as its economy leapfrogs from the Industrial Age to the Information Age.The firm strongly believes that this change will be driven by start-ups, and seeks to enable their founders to drive it. Mr. Rohit Goyal- Managing Partner of Windrose Capital said “We exist to serve this opportunity by enabling potential Indian unicorns to arrive on the global stage.”  Windrose Capital is also providing a unique opportunity to UHNIs in India by enabling them to become a part of this tremendous economic transformation. It continues to forge and strengthen partnerships with various start-up ecosystem players.

With its follow on investment in Nivesh.com- A mass market mutual fund distributor for the underserved population of Tier-2 & 3 cities, Windrose Capital has taken another step towards enabling start-ups championing financial inclusion. Windrose Capital also entered the Healthcare- Logistics sector with its investment in Biddano, a company that is organizing and transforming the extremely fragmented logistics of the healthcare industry using tech driven models. Paper.VC, a high technology data services start-up also received its seed investment from The Fund.

Windrose Capital has a disciplined and thesis-driven investment strategy with a deep lens on sectors it understands and on ideas that have a wide margin to succeed. Over the years, the firm has built an impeccable record with numerous investments in companies such as Idea Forge, Nivesh.com, Favcy, Precily and various others. Windrose Capital has also made multiple successful exits and continues to co-create value with entrepreneurs for all stakeholders of the growing ecosystem.

As an entrepreneur led Fund, Windrose Capital has a ‘Founder First’ approach towards investments, which is instrumental for working closely with start-up founders to enable them in their journey and help them stay focused on their mission. Goyal added,“An investment from us is about more than just capital. We bring to businesses our operational expertise, a focused group of hands-on entrepreneurial advisors, and a supportive community. Windrose capital will allow you to focus on what you do best: go ahead and create value.”

About Windrose Capital



Founded in 2014 by digital natives who have been founders themselves,Windrose Capital manages the ‘The Next Billion Fund’, a SEBI registered Cat- 1 AIF/ Venture Capital Fund. It’s led by active investors, thoughtful advisors, and dedicated problem solvers who have a passion for technology and a deep belief in the transformative power of digital-first businesses. 

The VC firm aims to create capital value by harnessing disruptive efficiency-driven opportunities in the Indian Start-up space. They pride in being a VC that gets investee companies to the proven market level, customer value and unit profitability by providing a support ecosystem to grow from a successful product to a proven business at scale.

VC Firm Accel to Raise $600 - $700 Mn for its 6th India Fund

Palo Alto, US based venture capital firm Accel Partners is planning to raise between $600 million and $700 million for its sixth India fund. Top partners from Accel were recently in the US to meet limited partners (LPs) for possible investments, according to a report by the Times of India citing two sources briefed on the matter.

Accel, which closed its last India fund at $450 million in December 2016, will raise much bigger fund than the previous one and the new fund will be used by the VC firm to sign larger cheques and also to keep investing more in portfolio companies that are doing well.

Citing one of the two sources, the ToI report further said that Accel plans to get more aggressive in growth deals and writing larger cheques for both new and existing companies besides their continuing focus on seed deals.

While the final size of the fund is still being decided, and Accel could end up raising more than its stated intention, said two people briefed on the matter. Accel has already registered multiple entities for the fund with US regulator SEC.

The new fund comes after Accel made a successful multi-bagger exit from e-commerce firm Flipkart, when in last year Walmart acquired a majority stake of 77% in Flipkart for $16 billion last year. Accel had invested $1 million in Flipkart in 2009 and thereafter $100 million in Flipkart over the years and made a total of over $1.2 billion when the sale happened, making a return on investment of more than 100%.

Known for its early bets in Facebook, Dropbox, Slack and Flipkart, last invested in India when it co-led the $13.2 million funding round of Valuedrive Technologies, which owns and operates used car retailing platform Spinny, in June this year.

In December last year, Accel Partners (US), along with Switzerland-based Syngenta Ventures and Neoplux, co-led US$35 million series B round of funding of Ninjacart, a Bangalore-based agri-marketing platform that connects farmers with retailers.

Algo Capital Closes Algo VC Fund at $200 Million

Algo Capital, the financial institution focused on accelerating access, adoption and liquidity of the Algo, the native digital currency of the Algorand blockchain, today announced the closing of its Algo VC Fund at $200 million, surpassing the firm’s original goal of $100 million. The fund will invest in category-leading businesses that are building on the Algorand technology platform and seeks to accelerate the use and acceptance of the Algo as a means of payment.

It is backed by a collection of experienced financial and blockchain industry investors across North America, Latin America, Asia and Europe, including Brainchild, NGC Ventures (the venture arm of NEO Global), Arrington XRP Capital, Eterna Capital, GSR, Cognitive Blockchain, Rokk3r Inc, Wibson, 11-11 Ventures, DG Ventures, Winslow Strong, Invermaster and many others.

Founded and led by veteran blockchain investor David Garcia, entrepreneur-turned-VC Arul Murugan, and blockchain technology expert Pablo Yabo, Algo Capital builds modern financial products to power Algorand’s borderless economy. It is a separate independent entity from both the Algorand Foundation and Algorand LLC, which developed a pure proof-of-stake protocol that is the first of its kind capable of supporting billions of users and transactions on blockchain.

As the venture arm of Algo Capital, the Algo VC fund is based on an investment strategy of creating and capturing value across all levels of the Algorand tech stack: the blockchain protocol, the infrastructure and the applications built on Algorand. Besides holding a large stake in Algos, the fund invests in emerging disrupters with proven business models, scalable revenue, and a clear path toward profitability. Initial portfolio companies include:

• Securitize - the leading security token issuance platform


• Idex - the leading decentralized exchange


• BlockDaemon - the leading blockchain infrastructure and middleware orchestration platform


• OTCXN - the leading institutional exchange and cross-custodian settlement platform

Each of the portfolio companies is working closely with Algorand to leverage its platform for speed, security and feature development.

“A key element of the NGC Ventures investment thesis is analyzing the caliber of leadership teams, be it the technical excellence, academic rigor, or business acumen. Led by luminaries across emerging technology, entrepreneurship, and investing practices, Algo Capital has world-class talent at the driving seat, and we look forward to seeing the success of its Algo VC fund,” said Roger Lim, Founding Partner at NGC Ventures.

Toward its goal of accelerating the use and acceptance of the Algo as a means of payment, all commitments to the Algo VC Fund were accepted in Algos rather than U.S. dollars and the Algo is the primary currency for all capital calls. Additionally, a portion of the firm’s capital investments are comprised of Algos, which allows portfolio companies to make use of the digital currency as a means of payment within the Algorand network.

With an eye toward the continued growth of the Algo VC Fund, the Algo Capital team is also exploring joint ventures with several venture studios and accelerators around the globe. These studios each support hundreds of early-stage startups across the world, and through these partnerships, Algo Capital will bring further investment to fledgling blockchain-based businesses in North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia.

“Our investment approach specifically targets companies that are creating the next great blockchain applications and infrastructure solutions, and as a result, helping to speed blockchain adoption and bring millions of new users into the Algorand network,” said Arul Murugan, founder and managing partner, Algo Capital. “That’s how Algo Capital contributes to the growth and investment of Algorand’s borderless economy and enables maximum value capture for Algo VC Fund investors.”

Temasek's Vertex Holdings Raises $230 Mn for 4th South-East Asia Fund

Vertex Venture Holdings raised US$230 million in the first close of its fourth Southeast Asian fund to back technology startups across the region and India.

The Singapore-based venture capital arm of Temasek Holdings plans to finalise the funding in the next few months, which could take it above the first close, said Chua Kee Lock, managing partner of Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India.

Most of the investors in its third fund, including Cathay Financial Holding, have backed the new one.

After the success of its bet on ride-hailing app Grab, now Southeast Asia's most valuable startup, Vertex plans to continue backing early-stage technology for financial services, enterprise and consumers in the region.

The net internal rate of return of its third Southeast Asian and Indian fund, which started in 2016, was 45.2 per cent as of December, according to a presentation to investors.

"Our investors have shown confidence in us by participating in the first closing, which hit the initial target of the fund," Mr Chua said.

"The reality is that there are some concerns about the trade war and valuations and the fundraising environment is getting harder."

Earlier Vertex investments include online shopping store FirstCry.com; InstaReM, a cross-border digital payments startup; Validus, an online financing marketplace; and Binance Asia, a cryptocurrency exchange platform.

The VC firm got its start three decades ago and Mr Chua joined as chief executive officer of Vertex Venture Holdings in 2008 and expanded it into a global operation with US$2.5 billion under management as of October.

Today, it manages portfolios in China, Israel, India, Southeast Asia and the US.

The new fund comes amid a flurry of fundraising activities in the region. Jungle Ventures is currently raising a US$200 million fund, while Golden Gate Ventures has teamed up with South Korea's Hanwha Asset Management to raise a US$200 million fund.

This news was first appeared in The Business Times (Singapore)

For the 1st Time, India's 36-Yr-Old NABARD Bank Launches $100 Mn VC Fund for Agri & Rural Startups

India's apex development financial institution owned by the government, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), has launched ₹ 700 crore ( ~ US $100 million) venture capital fund for equity investments in agriculture and rural -focused startups.

Established in July 1982 and fully owned by Government of India, NABARD has been contributing to other funds till now and this is the first time that NABARD, through its subsidiary 'NabVentures', has launched a fund of its own, reported Business Line.

The VC fund, which already had its first close, will be used for investing across startups engaged in agriculture, food and rural development space.

Launched in January this year as a separate subsidiary of NABARD to support start-ups, NabVentures has a proposed corpus of Rs 500 crore with an option to retain over-subscriptions of Rs 200 crore, called as the greenshoe option or "over-allotment option".

Nabventures is now scouting for equity investments in asset-light, innovative, technology-led start-ups in its focus areas

For its first close, the details of the investments done by NABARAD and other limited partners were not idisclosed yet.

NABARD chairman, Harsh Kumar Bhanwala, said,"The fund will have a high impact as it will provide a boost to investment ecosystem in the core areas of agriculture, food and improvement of rural livelihoods."

In India, more than 50% of the rural credit is disbursed by the Co-operative Banks and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and NABARD is responsible for regulating and supervising the functions of Co-operative banks and RRBs. NABARD also provides recommendations to Reserve Bank of India on issue of licenses to Cooperative Banks, opening of new branches by State Co-operative Banks and RRBs.

Regarding NABARD's contribution in Indian startup ecosystem, the bank has contributed Rs 273 crore to 16 alternate investment funds. Aavishkaar Bharat Fund, which had invested ₹40 crore in GoBOLT, a Gurgaon-based logistic tech startup, is backed by NABARD among other investors.

Jungle Ventures' third VC Fund gets $175 Mn from Temasek, IFC, Cisco and Others

Singapore based Venture Capital (VC) firm, Jungle Ventures, that invests in and helps build tech category leaders from Asia, has received commitments of around $175 million for its third VC fund, said a report by Livemint.

According to the report, about 90% of the $175 million of third VC fund, which may increase to $220 million, came from institutional investors in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, which include International Finance Corporation (IFC) of World Bank group, DEG - Deutsche Investitions, Germany, Cisco Investments, and Temasek Holdings among others.

Jungle Ventures, which has recently invested in Singapore's TookiTaki, has raised a total of $275 Mn across two VC funds. The third, Jungle Ventures III, was announced in December last year.

Founded in 2012, by Anurag Srivastava (IIM-Calcutta) and Amit Anand (IIT-Kanpur), Jungle Ventures invests in technology and e-commerce start-ups in India and south-east Asia. The firm later on-boarrrded Jayesh Parekh, the co-founder of Sony Entertainment Television, and David Gowdey, the former operating partner at private equity firm TPG Growth. In July last year, Grace Xia, Tencent’s former senior director of strategy & development, joined Jungle Ventures as a principal.

From its third fund, Jungle Ventures has already made 5 new investments where it led Series A & Series B rounds, said the report. Each year, the firm invests in around 10-15 tech startups and software companies, specifically across Series A and B rounds.

In India, some of the recent investments of Jungle ventures include Livspace, Paysense, Moglix and Klinify among others. The funds’ last 8 investments globally in Southeast Asia have collectively reached over $500 Mn.

US-based Investment Firm Launches $100 Mn Fund for Blockchain Tech Focused Startups

Florida, US-based investment firm, Global Blockchain Ventures, LLC, (GBV), has announced the launch of its $100 million blockchain technology focused venture capital fund, Global Blockchain Ventures Fund, LP, with lead investor Stonegate Digital Capital Group committing a seven-figure investment to seed the fund.

GBV has a core investment focus on blockchain technology and synergistic technology platforms including Internet of Things, MedTech, and Artificial Intelligence.

GBV was founded this year by Al Weiss, David Metcalf Ph.D., Max Hooper, Ph.D., and Dieter Kondek. Each brings a unique and impressive resume to the table ranging from decades of venture capital, institutional investment experience to international entrepreneurial and corporate success with leading Fortune 500 companies like Disney, IBM, Dell, NASA, and Techdata.

Chairman & General Partner of GBV, Al Weiss, commented on this announcement, “This is a very exciting time in history and we are blessed to be at the forefront of a technology that possesses the potential, and is well on its way, to disrupt all industries. My partners and I truly believe and understand this technology and we are excited to fuel innovation in blockchain and distributed ledger technology. This technology has vast potential for beneficial and practical use cases for economic growth and positive social impact."

Prior to GBV, Al Weiss was President of Worldwide Operations for Disney’s $10 Billion+/95,000 employee Walt Disney Parks and Resorts business.

GBV is in the process of building out a strong and capable team of advisors and venture partners, as well as forming strong relationships with other likeminded Venture Funds. Together they want to execute their mission of assisting the most disruptive and promising projects with the ability to offer actual, practical blockchain enabled applications to benefit State of Florida and the global economy.

Global Blockchain Ventures will take a unique approach to bridge the worlds of traditional venture capital investing and the world of blockchain and digital asset investing. GBV will not only provide capital, they will get involved and provide their portfolio companies with a supportive ecosystem to position them for long-term success. GBV and its consortium have created an ecosystem where promising technology companies can grow and thrive.

An example of this is its close partnership with the University of Central Florida (UCF) and its Mixed Emerging Technology Integration Lab (METIL), which is led by Dr. David Metcalf. Dr. Metcalf, who also founded and managed a NASA spinoff, stated, “We’ve assembled a dream team of leaders in finance and technology that will accelerate Blockchain innovations from across the globe. Our platform goes well beyond cryptocurrency investment to unlock the power of Blockchain to transform our world, particularly health, education, and enterprise systems.”

Global Blockchain Ventures was formed to leverage the decades of experience of this investment team and the ecosystem they have built to offer sophisticated investors a unique fund structure to take advantage of this opportunity. GBV’s growing list of global alliances, found here, provide global deal-flow, expertise, and growth support for GBV’s portfolio companies.

As part of their investment and execution strategy, the Fund intends to leverage its strategic alliances across the globe, such as its alliance with Blockchain Financial Group (BFG), a blockchain technology business with operations in financial services, ICO consulting, advisory and research, as well as blockchain technology and cryptocurrency investments. BFG holdings include Stonegate Global Fund Services, Stonegate Global Financial Technologies and Stonegate Digital Capital Group.

John McCorvey III, Board of Advisors at GBV, and CEO Blockchain Financial Group and Stonegate Digital Capital Group commented on the venture, saying, “We have had a long-standing relationship with the GBV team and made an investment in the fund given the opportunity to work more closely with them to support promising Blockchain ventures. The background of the team members speaks volumes about their capabilities and the global alliances they have built in Israel, Europe & India will create a strong deal flow of blockchain solution companies for the fund, specifically in the areas of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Healthcare, MedTech, Gaming and the Internet of Things.”

VC Firm Aavishkaar to Raise $300 Mn for South Asia

Mumbai-based venture capital & private equity firm Aavishkaar Group, is planning to raise $300 million for its South Asia-focused fund early next year to invest across sector - financial services, agriculture, energy and health, reported LiveMint, in its interaction with one of the firm's senior executives.

The fund, which is Aavishkaar’s eighth fund, is a follow up to its $75 million Frontier Fund focused on South and South-East Asia. The fund is expected to get its first close by end 2019.

Citing Vineet Rai (in pic above), Managing partner and Chief Executive of Aavishkaar Venture Management Services, the report said that the fund raised will be used to invest in smaller markets in South Asia, namely Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar and Laos among others, and larger markets like India and China will consciously be avoided in order tap the unutilized potential of smaller markets.

Aavishkar is however raising two separate funds specifically for India and Africa. It currently raising $200 million Aavishkaar Bharat fund and $150 million Africa fund, which will be Aavishkar's its first foray into the African market

Vineet Rai further said, “I see Indonesia as the next hub of impact investing. Like India, it has a high density of population and business models are very scalable. It also has a cultural connect and similarities with an evolving private equity/venture capital system."

The VC firm plans to raise the funds from Asian development finance institutions as well as from sovereign investors in Singapore, Japan, Australia and the UK.

About Aavishkaar's Bharat Fund, it is touted as the largest India-focused impact fund being raised by a domestic fund manager. While the Africa fund to hit a first close of $60-80 million by April next year. The Bharat fund, which had already achieved a first close of $95 million in November last year, is also expected to hit its final close around April 2019.

Aavishkaar Bharat Fund, which has recently invested ₹40 crore in GoBOLT, a Gurgaon-based logistic tech startup, is backed by institutional investors such as the UK’s development finance institution CDC, Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi), National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) and family offices such as Sunil Munjal of Hero Enterprise, said Rai.

Besides India, Aavishkar had invested in Sri Lanka-based Grasshoppers, a logistics solutions provider, in June last year, through its Aavishkaar Frontier Fund.

In May 2016, Aavishkaar made its inroads in Bangladesh with an investment of $2 million in CloudWell, a payment systems company that provides agent-based last mile payment solutions to a host of service providers such as telecom operators, mobile financial services players and other billers under the brand name ‘PayWell’.

[Top Featured Image - BWdisrupt.businessworld.in]

Tiger Global Raises $3.75 Bn VC Fund with Focus on Tech Startups in India, China and US

American investment firm Tiger Global has raised $3.75 billion in its latest venture capital fund named as 'Tiger Global Private Investment Partners XI'. The funds raised is touted as one of the largest fundraisings of its kind this year.

This 11th venture capital vehicle of Tiger Global is said to got closed on October 15 and will step up its investments in the Indian startups after three years of long gap of fresh investment it has made.

According to material given by Tiger Global to its funds' investors, the fund will focus on consumer internet, cloud and industry-specific software, as well as direct-to-consumer companies in China, India and the US.

Tiger Global has made over $3.3 billion from Flipkart's acquisition by Walmart, where WAlmart had acquired 77% of controlling stake in Flipkart. Tiger Global had invested close to $1 billion in Flipkart since 2009 and still owns around 5% stake in the e-commerce firm.

According to data by data intelligence firm, Preqin, Tiger Global’s fundraising is the highest VC fund to close this year. The highest previously had been two China-based funds -- YF Capital’s Yunfeng III fund, which closed in July with $2.5bn, and Tunlan Investment’s Xiong’An Global Blockchain Innovation Fund, which closed in April with $1.6bn. However Sequoia Capital also raised $6bn of a planned $8bn global fund in June.

Tiger Global, one of the earliest big backers of India's Internet ecosystem, was reluctant towards its future investments in India over questions on the fate of its investments in Flipkart and Ola. Also, Tiger Global’s Lee Fixel believed that the India's Internet economy was not growing as rapidly as that of China’s.

In India, Tiger Global is likely to invest in new e-commerce ventures, logistics tech startups, B2B commerce firms, and digital media/content ventures in the country.

According to a statement given by a managing director of Tiger Global to Economic Times, the investment firm is expected to focus on mid to growth-stage investments and was seeking to lead funding rounds starting from $30 million

Tiger Global was last seen active when it participated in its existing portfolio firm Grofers' $62 million fundraise in March this year

Tiger Management Corp., also known as "The Tiger Fund", began investing in 1980 and is an American hedge fund and family office founded by Julian Robertson. The investment group now manages about $26bn, with the largest chunk, which nearly half, in its venture capital business.

Source - Financial Times

Tiger Global Raises $3.75 Bn VC Fund with Focus on Tech Startups in India, China and US

American investment firm Tiger Global has raised $3.75 billion in its latest venture capital fund named as 'Tiger Global Private Investment Partners XI'. The funds raised is touted as one of the largest fundraisings of its kind this year.

This 11th venture capital vehicle of Tiger Global is said to got closed on October 15 and will step up its investments in the Indian startups after three years of long gap of fresh investment it has made.

According to material given by Tiger Global to its funds' investors, the fund will focus on consumer internet, cloud and industry-specific software, as well as direct-to-consumer companies in China, India and the US.

Tiger Global has made over $3.3 billion from Flipkart's acquisition by Walmart, where WAlmart had acquired 77% of controlling stake in Flipkart. Tiger Global had invested close to $1 billion in Flipkart since 2009 and still owns around 5% stake in the e-commerce firm.

According to data by data intelligence firm, Preqin, Tiger Global’s fundraising is the highest VC fund to close this year. The highest previously had been two China-based funds -- YF Capital’s Yunfeng III fund, which closed in July with $2.5bn, and Tunlan Investment’s Xiong’An Global Blockchain Innovation Fund, which closed in April with $1.6bn. However Sequoia Capital also raised $6bn of a planned $8bn global fund in June.

Tiger Global, one of the earliest big backers of India's Internet ecosystem, was reluctant towards its future investments in India over questions on the fate of its investments in Flipkart and Ola. Also, Tiger Global’s Lee Fixel believed that the India's Internet economy was not growing as rapidly as that of China’s.

In India, Tiger Global is likely to invest in new e-commerce ventures, logistics tech startups, B2B commerce firms, and digital media/content ventures in the country.

According to a statement given by a managing director of Tiger Global to Economic Times, the investment firm is expected to focus on mid to growth-stage investments and was seeking to lead funding rounds starting from $30 million

Tiger Global was last seen active when it participated in its existing portfolio firm Grofers' $62 million fundraise in March this year

Tiger Management Corp., also known as "The Tiger Fund", began investing in 1980 and is an American hedge fund and family office founded by Julian Robertson. The investment group now manages about $26bn, with the largest chunk, which nearly half, in its venture capital business.

Source - Financial Times

Early Stage VC Firm Lightbox Raises $178 Mn of the Targeted $200 Mn Fund-III

Mumbai headquartered Lightbox Ventures, an early-stage consumer technology venture capital firm, has raised $178 million of the targeted $200 million for its flagship third venture fund "Lightbox Ventures Fund-III", according to an SEC filing.

According to the filing, the third fund has so far raised capital from 19 limited partners.

At $200 million, it would be the largest such venture fund raised by Lightbox till date. If successfully closed, the Fund-III would bring Lightbox’s total funds raised to approximately $392.2 million to date. Earlier, Lightbox raised $38.2 million for its first fund, and about $100 for the second fund.

Lightbox has backed startups such as Faasos, Embibe, Furlenco and Droom. The firm has made a total of 11 investments so far.

Lightbox is currently led by led by Sandeep Murthy, a former general partner at Sherpalo Ventures, who started Lightbox after his old firm shifted its investment focus to the United States. LLater, other partners including Sid Talwar, Prashant Mehta, Jeremy Wenokur, and Sunny Rao joined the firm. Rao left the firm in 2016 while all other remain.

Technically speaking, Lightbox comes under the industry category of "Micro VC", a kind of venture capital where money is invested to seed early-stage emerging companies with amounts of finance that is typically less than that of traditional venture capital.

In December 2016, Lightbox had raised $54 million as an extension of its second fund of $100 million, which it had closed in late 2014, to invest in its existing portfolio start-ups. With the latest fundraise, the total funding by firm has surpassed $370 million across funds till date.

From the first fund, the firm had invested in GreenDust, ZoomIn, MapmyIndia, Paymate, FutureBazaar, and Kotak Urja. It other investments included independent mobile ad network InMobi, travel site Cleartrip, recruitment site Naukri, and Greendust.

The team of Lightbox has a mix of entrepreneurs, technologists and investors, with a global operational experience in consumer tech. according to the firm almost everyone at Lightbox has co-founded startups including Cleartrip, Newhoo (purchased by Netscape), Half.com (purchased by eBay) and Evolv (purchased by NIIT) and have also led functions at Google, eBay, Komli, IAC, Yahoo, Sony, Cleartrip, InMobi and NIIT.

It may also be recalled that besides Lightbox, VC firm Sequoia Capital also closed $695 million for its sixth India-focused fund, in late last month. In the same month, Matrix Partners India too announced it raised $300 million for its third fund.

Via ~ DealStreeatAsia, Crunchbase

[Top Image - Livemint.com]

Early Stage VC Firm Lightbox Raises $178 Mn of the Targeted $200 Mn Fund-III

Mumbai headquartered Lightbox Ventures, an early-stage consumer technology venture capital firm, has raised $178 million of the targeted $200 million for its flagship third venture fund "Lightbox Ventures Fund-III", according to an SEC filing.

According to the filing, the third fund has so far raised capital from 19 limited partners.

At $200 million, it would be the largest such venture fund raised by Lightbox till date. If successfully closed, the Fund-III would bring Lightbox’s total funds raised to approximately $392.2 million to date. Earlier, Lightbox raised $38.2 million for its first fund, and about $100 for the second fund.

Lightbox has backed startups such as Faasos, Embibe, Furlenco and Droom. The firm has made a total of 11 investments so far.

Lightbox is currently led by led by Sandeep Murthy, a former general partner at Sherpalo Ventures, who started Lightbox after his old firm shifted its investment focus to the United States. LLater, other partners including Sid Talwar, Prashant Mehta, Jeremy Wenokur, and Sunny Rao joined the firm. Rao left the firm in 2016 while all other remain.

Technically speaking, Lightbox comes under the industry category of "Micro VC", a kind of venture capital where money is invested to seed early-stage emerging companies with amounts of finance that is typically less than that of traditional venture capital.

In December 2016, Lightbox had raised $54 million as an extension of its second fund of $100 million, which it had closed in late 2014, to invest in its existing portfolio start-ups. With the latest fundraise, the total funding by firm has surpassed $370 million across funds till date.

From the first fund, the firm had invested in GreenDust, ZoomIn, MapmyIndia, Paymate, FutureBazaar, and Kotak Urja. It other investments included independent mobile ad network InMobi, travel site Cleartrip, recruitment site Naukri, and Greendust.

The team of Lightbox has a mix of entrepreneurs, technologists and investors, with a global operational experience in consumer tech. according to the firm almost everyone at Lightbox has co-founded startups including Cleartrip, Newhoo (purchased by Netscape), Half.com (purchased by eBay) and Evolv (purchased by NIIT) and have also led functions at Google, eBay, Komli, IAC, Yahoo, Sony, Cleartrip, InMobi and NIIT.

It may also be recalled that besides Lightbox, VC firm Sequoia Capital also closed $695 million for its sixth India-focused fund, in late last month. In the same month, Matrix Partners India too announced it raised $300 million for its third fund.

Via ~ DealStreeatAsia, Crunchbase

[Top Image - Livemint.com]

Sequoia India Closes its Fund-VI at $695 Million, To Look Beyond India, SE Asia

Sequoia Capital India (Sequoia India), the India unit of Silicon Valley's top venture capital fund Sequoia Capital, has announced later today that it has recently closed its sixth fund at US$695 million.

Sequoia Capital India, which has made over 200 investments so far in companies across India and Southeast Asia (SE-Asia), will use the fund to double down on investments in both early and growth stage companies in the technology, consumer and healthcare sectors across India and SE-Asia.

The Fund-VI comes two years after it last raised $930 million for its previous India-focused fund and will take its total assets under management to $3.9 billion.

Besides this, Sequoia India also announced the departure of Abhay Pandey, who led some investments such as B9 Beverages, Awfis, Vini Cosmetics and others.

A very tough decision to say “farewell” after 11 terrific years is made somewhat easier as @Sequoia_India is in the best shape I have seen it in. Time to pursue my passion outside. Sincere gratitude to the founders I have had the privilege to work with, the team and my partners pic.twitter.com/8J0AKwHdHa

— Abhay Pandey (@Abhay__Pandey) August 21, 2018

"Abhay had wanted to create a dedicated consumer fund," said the firm in a blog post.

Abheek Anand who joined the firm from Facebook and led the investments in Appier, Grofers, Cuemath, and MoneyTap has been promoted to Managing Director. He will focus on investments in SE-Asia.

Also Read - Axilor Ventures Launches New ₹200 crore Tech-focused Fund for Early Age Startups

Last month, Sequoia India's two former managing directors - VT Bharadwaj and Gautam Mago, teamed up to launch a new $290 million investment firm, which will back early- to growth-stage private companies

Future Plan

Sequoia India is now looking at investment opportunities in sectors including (but not limited to) -- mobile internet, online brands, enterprise SaaS, Artificial Intelligence, cryptocurrency, deep technology, healthcare, new age consumer brands. Moreover this time, the firm hinted, it likes to invest beyond India and SE-Asia unlike to its earlier approach of sticking to just India and SE-Asia.

[Top image - Sequoia India Group | Via - Sequoiacap.com]

New Third India Fund of Matrix Partners Raises $300 million

Matrix Partners India III, which is the new fund of Matrix Partners India, is understood to have raised $300 million (~ Rs 2,100 crore), according to a ‘Form D’ filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dated August 14. Form D is used to file a notice of an exempt offering of securities with the SEC. It is a brief notice that includes basic information about the company and the offering, such as the names and addresses of the company’s executive officers, the size of the offering and the date of first sale.

Matrix Partners India is an investment firm with Rs 4,500 crore under management. Founded in 2006 by Avnish Bajaj and Rishi Navani, the firm invests in multiple stage companies targeting the Indian consumer and enterprise market. Rishi Navani however quit Matrix Partner later to launch Epiq Capital.

Notably, the firm has recently invested in &ME, a Bengaluru-based food and beverage brand, focused on women’s health and wellness. Prior to this, it led the $1 million investment in Elemential Labs, a Mumbai-based blockchain administration platform touted as WordPress-for-Blockchain Solutions, in April this year. IN March this year, Delhi-based SaaS startup Anaek, which develops chatbots, raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding from Matrix Partners India.

Erlier this week too, Matrix Partners announced that it has co-invested in Vogo, a scooter-sharing platform for short haul commute. Vogo is a dockless scooter rental company which lets customers rent scooters for short one-way trips at various locations across the city. The company is currently present in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, and plans to add over 1,000 pick-up points across the two cities in the coming year.

Few notable investments of Matrix India include companies such as Ola, Quikr, Practo, Dailyhunt, Treebo, Mswipe, Five Star Business Finance, Razorpay, OfBusiness, CreditVidya and ZipLoan, among others.

Sanjot Malhi, vice-president, Matrix India, said in a statement to Financial Express that Matrix Partners sees a lot of potential in &ME being able to become a large F&B brand. “More broadly, we are excited about investing in, and partnering with more home-grown consumer brands across the spectrum,” he said.

Last month, two former managing directors of Sequoia Capital's India unit have teamed up to launch a new Rs 2,000 crore investment firm, which will back early- to growth-stage private companies

According to a Grant Thornton report, H1 of 2018 was dominated by investments in the start-up sector, which contributed to 58% of total investment volumes garnering $1.8 billion. This is in line with the trends in the last seven years. Fintech attracted significant attention from investors with 52 deals, followed by healthtech, retail and enterprise solutions segments.

H1 witnessed a majority of the PE players cashing out their investments completely from their portfolio companies. A notable exit was witnessed in the e-commerce sector with the Walmart-Flipkart deal marking the largest PE exit in the period. Real estate, auto, IT, banking and energy sectors also saw top exits this year.

[Top Image - Avnish Bajaj | Via - ABHIJIT BHATLEKAR/Flickr]