When we talk about number of startups founded, India ranks among the top three countries globally. Startups that raised funding between the years of 2007-16 are also on the hunt for another round of funding. To support these startup ideas, the number of venture capital firms are on the rise too. While there are quite a number of venture capital firms dominating the funding scenario, there’s a notable increase in new VC firms working on the low. These are either investing in small amounts, dark knights of the VC world, or relatively new startups/ventures
Here’s a list of hidden gems of the venture capital ecosystem that provide a strong pillar to startups:
1. Aavishkaar Bharat Fund
Aavishkaar Bharat Fund is an innovator in early-stage funding. It was founded in 2001 and has a 3 step strategy to support entrepreneurs, build an ecosystem, and generate responsible exits.
Key Investments: Over 50 investments.
Key People: Vineet Rai.
Key Sectors: Microfinance, low-income states.
2. Ankur Capital Fund
Co-Founded by Rema Subramanian and Ritu Verma, Ankur Capital Fund is focused on providing flexible seed stage funding to startups. They also collaborate with their portfolio companies to help them scale and build an impactful business.
Key Investments: Suma Agro, Skillveri, ERC, Tessol, Niramai, BigHaat.
Key People: Rema Subramanian, Ritu Verma.
Key Sectors: Agriculture, healthcare, skill development, and education.
3. Augment Ventures
Augment Ventures provides mentoring, strategic assistance in development, and also incubation spaces to startups.
Key Investments: Zepo, Innov8, Seenit, Purple Style Labs, Evabot & Explara.
Key People: Shivam Shah
Key Sectors: Technology enabled enterprises.
4. CapAleph Indian Millennium SME Fund
This Bangalore-based private advisory equity firm engages deeply with the operating aspects of business that have the potential to generate significant differences in returns.
Key Investments: Utkal Tubers.
Key People: Rajesh Ranjan.
Key Sectors: Food and agri sectors.
5. CapitaLand Limited – C31 Ventures
C31 Ventures was founded in 2016 to advance the range of business CapitaLand is involved in. Their investments are mainly in their eight focus areas.
Key Investments: Ace Turtle Services Pvt. Ltd.
Key People: Lim Ming Yan.
Key Sectors: Real Estate, Customer Engagement.
6. Caspian
Caspian has been investing in high quality enterprises in India since 2005 that have an environmental impact along with financial returns. They have 4 different funds.
Key Investments: Ujjivan, Janalakshmi Financial Services, Micro Housing Finance Corporation
Key People: S Viswanatha Prasad.
Key Sectors: Financial inclusion, food & agriculture, affordable housing, healthcare and clean energy.
Setup and automate the most complex payroll procedures with ease and run your entire payroll process with sumHR
7. Clairvest Group
Clairvest Group was founded in 1987 and has a board of entrepreneurs with experience building successful companies of their own.
Key Investments: Chilean Gaming Holdings, County Waste of Virginia, CRS Contractors Rental Supply.
Key People: Jeff Parr, Ken Rotman.
Key Sectors: Defense, Waste Management, Business Services, Healthcare, and many more.
8. Cocoon Ventures
This Dubai-based venture capital firm invests in early stage Information technology and IoT software companies.
Key Investments: AirMeLive, markat.com, World Startup Expo, Cocoonnest.
Key People: Nebu K Abraham.
Key Sectors: Information Technology, Internet of Things (IoT).
9. Falcon Edge Capital
Falcon Edge Capital has been a part of the major round of funding Ola secured in May 2017.
Key Investments: Ola.
Key People: Wilson Rondini, Angus Rose, John Howarth, Marco Castaldo.
Key Sectors: Open.
10. Green Shoots Capital
Green Shoots Capital is a private investing firm that funds startups in their initial or early stages of business. They conduct financial and market analysis on interesting startups before investing a seed amount.
Key Investments: 2-3 undisclosed investments.
Key People: Mohit Seth.
Key Sectors: Open.
11. Ideaspring Capital
Ideaspring Capital is an early stage venture fund by entrepreneurs with a vision to reimagine technology to enable a better world.
Key Investments: Karomi, Lavelle Networks, Whodat.
Key People: Naganand Doraswamy, Arihant Patni, Prashant Deshpande.
Key Sectors: Machine Learning and Deep Learning, Computer Vision and Image Processing, Big Data Analytics, Internet of things, Augmented and Virtual Reality, Cyber Security, etc.
12. IDEIN Ventures
IDEIN Ventures invests in companies with a strong growth potential, solid assets for backup, or a proven model of success.
Key Investments: Infuria, QRIYO, Buildtraders, Zoeasy.
Key People: Mahesh Vellaboyina, Ashwin Srivastava, Rajeshwar Prasad.
Key Sectors: Sector agnostic.
13. IncubAsia Ventures
IncubAsia Ventures makes strategic late seed and Series A investments in early stage technology companies.
Key Investments: Moko Social Media, Sayduck, Inzen Studio, VMOB, Pocket Media, BlockOn.
Key People: Gerben Visser, Hans de Back.
Key Sectors: Technology.
14. IndiaNivesh Growth and Special Situations Fund
IndiaNivesh has a mission to be a top financial powerhouse in India and offer a bouquet of financial services to its clients.
Key Investments: Innefu Labs, M Power.
Key People: Hemant Panpalia, Dinesh Nuwal, Rajesh Nuwal.
Key Sectors: Technology.
15. Iron Pillar Funds
The Iron Pillar team has a combined experience of over 100 years and backs innovative companies post Series A round of funding.
Key Investments: Nowfloats, Bluestone.
Key People: Anand Prasanna, Mohanjit Jolly, Ashish Shah, Sameer Nath, Harish Hulyalkar, Ashok Ananthakrishnan.
Key Sectors: Consumer Tech and Enterprise Tech sectors.
16. Kitven Fund
Karnataka Information Technology Venture Capital Fund (KITVEN Fund) has been operational since 1999. They have a long-term investment approach in emerging companies.
Key Investments: iLantus Technologies (P) Limited, Mitra Biotech (P) Limited, Sloka Telecom (P) Limited.
Key People: Shri A R Jayakumar, Shri B Manish Kumar.
Key Sectors: Information Technology, Biotechnology and other high-end products/ solutions in the knowledge based sector.
17. Menterra Social Impact Fund
Meterra invests in startups that are dedicated to providing game-changing solutions to social problems. They actively seek out entrepreneurs at the early stages of developing their ideas.
Key Investments: Leap Skills Academy, Biosense Technologies, NubeSol, Math Buddy, Curiositi Learning Solutions.
Key People: Mukesh Sharma , Paul Basil, PR Ganapathy.
Key Sectors: Education and Skills Training, Healthcare, Agriculture, Energy.
18. Parampara Early Stage Opportunities
Parampara not only invests in but also advises entrepreneurs in build important skills like team building, providing strategic and operational guidance, marketing and promotion, advisories on IP and investment.
Key Investments: S-Cube, SecurAX, Data Resolve, Energy Leader.
Key People: Venkat Vallabhaneni, Jatin Desai, Sridhar Rampalli.
Key Sectors: Technology, intellectual property and innovation.
19. Pi Ventures Fund
Pi Ventures Fund supports AI, IoT, or Machine Learning based disruptive ventures with a vision to solve social problems.
Key Investments: Sigtuple, ten3T Health (Cicer), Zenatix, Niramai.
Key People: Manish Singhal, Umakant Soni.
Key Sectors: Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Internet of Things.
20. Pravega Ventures
Pravega Ventures focuses on early-stage and typically invests anywhere between $250k to $2M.They work with a small number of companies every year and commit to work closely with founders.
Key Investments: Crofarm, Innovacer, Fyle, PropertyShare.
Key People: Mukul Singhal, Rohit Jain.
Key Sectors: Technology.
21. Rocketship.vc
Rocketship.vc uses data science to compare, identify and invest in exceptional companies. Post investment, they continue tracking data to generate relevant insights.
Key Investments: Privacy, GRANA, Jugnoo, Tattoodo, Springboard, fitmob.
Key People: Venky Harinarayan, Anand Rajaraman, Sailesh Ramakrishnan.
Key Sectors: Data science.
22. Saha Fund
Saha Fund was launched as India’s first women-centric venture capital fund that is run by women.
Key Investments: Fitternity, Kaaryah, Stelae Technologies, and Joulestowatts.
Key People: Ankita Vashistha, Usha.
Key Sectors: Technology, Women led companies.
23. SCP India Fund
SCP India Fund invests in mid-sized companies with a potential to grow and an established business model. They typically invest around $10-25M.
Key Investments: NephroPlus.
Key People: Heramb Hajarnavis.
Key Sectors: Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals, Financial Services, Information Technology and Information Technology Enabled Services, Consumer and Retail, Business Services, Niche Manufacturing.
24. Stanford Angels and Entrepreneurs
SA&E India has a unique group of investors with expertise and experience with entrepreneurship. They have a vision to nurture the early stage ecosystem in India.
Key Investments: PropheSee, SmartVizX, Betaout, Gyandhan, Kopykitab, Unacademy.
Key People: Paula Mariwala, Chaitra Chidanand.
Key Sectors: Innovative software or hardware technologies or disruptive business model.
25. Stelcore Management Services
Stelcore was incorporated in 2011. They have a team with high expertise in Indian businesses who believe in building long-term relationships with their clients.
Key Investments: Jhakaas.
Key People: Bharat Mandot.
Key Sectors: Pharma, Cement, Consumables, FMCG, Telecom, Real Estate, Education, Warehousing, and Infra Products.
26. Stellaris Venture Partners Fund
Stellaris Venture Partners is an early-stage Series A oriented venture fund that is focused on technology and SaaS based businesses.
Key Investments: Wydr.
Key People: Ritesh Banglani, Alok Goyal, Rahul Chowdhri.
Key Sectors: Local language online services, technology-led financial inclusion, and global SaaS businesses.
27. Unicorn India Ventures Fund
Unicorn India Ventures are interested in entrepreneurs looking to build market leading products that solve real life problems for end users.
Key Investments: GrabonRent, Inc42, Pharmarack, SmartCoin, Vanity Cube.
Key People: Bhaskar Majumdar, Anil Joshi., Aayush Jain.
Key Sectors: Consumer, Mobile & Internet, Enterprise & SaaS, Cloud & IT, Services (Outsourcing), and Hardware.
Think we missed out on any important venture capital firm that deserves to be on this list? Let us know in the comment section below!
Psst! Are you one of the hidden gems listed above? If yes, you might want to take a closer look at ‘moi’! 😉
We’ve been growing avg. 200% YoY since 2013, doubling our customer base, revenues, and headcount every year – bootstrapping all the way! But now we feel it’s time to scale up faster and take sumHR to the next level, so we’re open to investments. Interested? Write to me on jay@sumhr.com
If you’re a startup looking to simplify your HR & payroll processes, give us a call on +91 92222 13195 or visit signup.www.sumhr.com for a personalized demo and free 7-day trial of sumHR.
Disclaimer:This list is in alphabetical order. All the details mentioned are based on information available online. In case of any errors, contact us at buzz@sumhr.com
