Venture capitalists, or VCs, are Venture Capital firms that primarily invest in early-stage startups. They are one of the major stakeholders in the startup ecosystem. VCs provide the much-needed capital to startups without any collateral during their cash burn phase. In return, they get equity in the company.
In this post, we have discussed some of the prominent VCs who invest in early and growth-stage startups in India.
A well-known VC firm that has invested in startups, such as Zomato, Byju’s, Practo and JustDial. They invest in most of the high growth sectors, including consumer, fintech/financial services, healthtech/healthcare, SaaS, enterprise/B2B technology, and mobile. Sequoia generally invests up to $1 million in seed stage, up to $10 million in early stage and $100 in the growth stage of a startup. Every 6 months, it shortlists 10-20 startups for its Surge program and invests $1.5 million in each with participation from other investors.
Accel Partners is a USA based VC firm that invests globally in startups. Some of the Indian companies it has invested in are Swiggy, Flipkart, Cure.fit and Blackbuck. It focuses on technology sectors such as media, mobile, SaaS, e-commerce and enterprise software. Freshworks, which recently went for IPO, is one of the investments by Accel Partners. The size of the investment made varies from $0.5 million to $50 million.
Blume was founded in 2010. It has invested in over 150 companies, out of which 24 have taken an exit. It manages a portfolio of over $280 million. When creating the firm, their purpose was to fill the gap in the Indian venture market between large private equity firms and local angel investors. They provide the agility of angel investors while taking an institutional approach. They mostly invest in technology-based startups at the early stages. Dunzo, Unacademy, LBB and BHIVE are some of the startups in its portfolio.
Kalaari is an early-stage, technology-focussed venture capital firm. It has invested in over 90 startups led by the legendary Vani Kola,. It also took an exit from 15 plus startups, some popular being Myntra and Snapdeal. Cure.fit, Dream11 and Embibe are some of its notable investments. Kalaari Capital manages funds of over $700 million.
Endiya Partners is an early-stage venture capital fund that invests in Indian product start-ups that are globally relevant. Leveraging deep domain expertise along with vast entrepreneurial and operating experience, the Endiya team plays a key role in co-creating scalable businesses.
Endiya’s portfolio consists of disruptive and category-defining companies across SaaS, Fintech, Deeptech and Digital Health. Endiya's current portfolio includes Darwinbox, Kissht, Curefit, SigTuple and Qapita. Founded in 2015, Endiya Partners has $100M under management.
Matrix Partners is a US-based private equity investment firm focussing on venture capital investments. Matrix Partners India was established in 2006 and invests across various sectors, including B2B, fintech, consumer technologies, among others.
It is one of the early investors in Ola, some other notable investments being Bijnis, Dailyninja and Country Delight. It manages investment funds of over $1 billion and invested in 100 plus companies. It has successfully exited numerous companies, Hubspot and Oculus being two of its well-known exits.
It is one of the India-US venture funds started by successful entrepreneurs in enterprise technology and consumer internet, which invests mainly in early-stage companies. Snapdeal, Zomato, OLX and Druva are some of its notable investments.
It works closely with companies in which it invests and supports entrepreneurs for long-term in their entrepreneurship journey. It invests around $0.5 million in seed-stage and up to $10 million in growth-stage startups.
A venture capital firm managed by entrepreneurs and industry veterans who help founders from an early stage to shape their company. It invests up to $3 million in seed-stage to help founders build products, acquire customers and reach the next stage of series A financing.
It leverages its network of over 5000 CXOs to help its portfolio startups acquire its initial set of customers.
It is an Indian venture capital firm that invests across different sectors, such as technology, life science, health care and the environment. It has made over 100 investments and manages $325 million plus funds.
MoEngage, Acko and Kissht are some of the notable companies in which it has invested. It invests in the seed as well as growth stages of the startups.
It invests in pre-seed and seed-stage startups and helps them further in their next rounds of investments. Axilor Ventures invests between $200k to $500k in about 15-20 startups each year in each of the startups. It also has a community of over 400 founders to mentor and guide founders. It invests in deep technology, fintech, consumer, health tech mainly.
Saarthi, YourQuote and Maximl are some of the startups in which it has invested.
This venture capital firm invests in exchange of equity as well as in the form of debt. It invests in growth and late-stage startups. Some of the industries in which they invest are technology, consumer and internet space. Meesho is a well-known startup backed by Trifecta capital partners.
It is a Singapore based venture capital firm that invests globally in startups. As of now, it has made over 35 investments and manages $600 million plus assets under it. Also, they have made successful exits from over 10 companies. E-commerce, digital media, SaaS, fintech, big data, analytics and enterprise, are some of the fields they invest in. Some startups in which they have invested are BookMyShow, Livspace and Moglix.
They particularly invest in the growth stage, which are in digital consumption and business services (social, mobile, analytics and cloud). Bigbasket, Freshmenu, Pepperfry and Zivame are some startups under their portfolio.
It is a venture capital firm of Qualcomm Inc, a fortune 500 company with operations across the world. They have over $1 billion assets in management and have invested in more than 150 companies spread across the globe. AI, enterprise & cloud, consumer and IOT are some of the industries in which they invest. They are one of the investors of the leading video conferencing application, Zoom. Some other popular investments are Shadowfax, Housing and Mi.
It was founded in 2008 and has invested in over 50 companies till now. Ascent Capital invests across multiple sectors, including consumer technology, IT, healthcare and pharmaceuticals. Sequent, Solara, Bigbasket and Fresh to Home are some of the notable startups it has invested in.
They invest in early-stage Indian companies in mobile and internet segments, whose target market is Indian consumers. Also, they help entrepreneurs in building networks and defining business strategies at different levels. UrbanPro, Housing.com and Kartrocket are some of the companies in which Nirvana ventures have invested.
Lightspeed India partners venture firm is a venture arm of Lightspeed Ventures that focuses on direct and cross-border Indian companies. They invest in different stages of the startups and several sectors, including media, consumer, financial services, healthcare and retail. Some of the companies they have invested in are Apna, Darwinbox, Dukaan, Byju’s and OkCredit.
A sector agnostic venture capital firm that invests at early-stages of startups. Their investment decisions are based on innovation, leadership and growth potential of the product in the market. Kae Capital investment size at the seed stage is typically between $200K to $1 million. 1mg, Healthkart, Porter and TrulyMadly are some companies in which Kae capital has invested.
Ivycap venture is a sector agnostic firm with a focus on consumer technology, healthtech, Edtech, SaaS and DeepTech products. They invest in early to growth-stage companies which are highly scalable and have innovative business models.
They have alumni strength of over 50,000 worldwide who help in sourcing deals, mentoring entrepreneurs, resourcing and helping in building business connections. Some companies in which they have invested are Purple, Biryani by kilo, Bewakoof and Synapsica.
They focus investing in disruptive innovations in fields mainly gaming, cloud, AI, cybersecurity, enterprise applications and silicon design & manufacturing. Last year, they invested $735 million in 35 new and 45 follow-up deals in companies from seed to growth stage. Snapdeal and Hungama are two of its notable investments in India.
They are a new venture capital firm and invest in early-stage companies from the technology and consumer domain but not limited to that. Some of the well-known companies in which India Quotient has invested are Sharechat, WebEngage, Rapido, Sugar Cosmetics, Care24, IIM Jobs, and Koo.
It is a part of the Omidyar Group and makes investments in early-stage enterprises and provides grants to nonprofits education, emerging tech, financial inclusion, governance & citizen engagement, and property rights.
Omidyar Network India has invested over $322 million in more than 120 active investments. Pickrr, Quikr, Zest, Bounce and Zypgo are some of the companies in its portfolio.
A Gurgaon based venture capital firm that was founded in 2004. They have a strong on-ground presence and operational experience and help startups in long-term equity-based investment.
They have invested in many companies, including Akshayakalpa and Renewbuy. Financial inclusion, agriculture & livelihood, education and healthcare are some segments in which they invest.
This venture capital firm has a track record of over 50 years in investing at the inception stage of the companies. They invest in consumer, enterprise and engineering biotechnology companies. Also, they have over 100 companies in their portfolio that successfully went public and around 200 companies in M&A deals.
Further, they invest check sizes ranging from $500K-3M for Seed companies and $4-12M for series A companies. Also, they selectively make investments in series B and beyond companies. They were one of the early investors in MakeMyTrip. Some notable companies under its portfolio are Crunchbase, Lyft, Citrix, FTX and Marketo.
Elevation is a sector agnostic VC firm, which invests in early-stage startups of several sectors. Some of its investments are Paytm, MakeMyTrip, FirstCry and Meesho.
It is a global internet group that also invests in technology-based companies worldwide. Swiggy, OLX and Makemytrip are some of the companies in India in which it has invested.
It is an early to mid-stage India focussed venture capital firm founded in 2006. Currently, it manages funds of over $600 million in over 60 companies. Bigbasket, Makemytrip, Shopclues and Toppr are some of the notable startups in which it has also invested.
Tracxn lab keeps track of over 100 markets, and based on that, it invests in several startups to build the MVP. The investment size ranges from $50k-$60k. Fabhotesl, Unacademy, Darwinbox and Slicepay are some companies in which it has invested.
A well-known global investment firm that has invested in over 950 companies in about 40 countries with a total sum of $97 billion. It partners with startups of all stages of development industries and geographics and helps them to scale. Healthcare, financial services, consumer, energy, technology and real estate are sectors in which they mostly invest.
PVR, Medplus, Quikr and Kalyan Jewellers are some of its notable investments in India.
It is an America based investment firm which mainly focuses in internet, software, consumer and financial technologies industries. Some of its notable investments are in Facebook, Quora, Flipkart, Stripe, and Alibaba. It invests in both public and private companies. In India it has invested in about 100 companies like Razorpay, Moglix and Byju’s.
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