gujarat: Local venture funds boost Gujarat’s startups | Ahmedabad News
In a decade, Gujarat has successfully turned itself into a strong ecosystem for startups. Locally created venture funds have been increasingly responsible for driving the growth of Gujarat’s startups, which clock enviable valuations after being funded.
The need for capital is crucial for startups not just at an early stage, but at the growth-and-acceleration stage as well. A case in point is Kettle Borough Venture Capital based in Ahmedabad which registered last year. “The startup ecosystem in Gujarat is maturing and it is only wise to fund local entrepreneurs. We have already made investments worth Rs 3 crore since our inception last year. By June 2022, we aim to invest Rs 10 crore in startups,” said Nisarg Shah, managing partner of the fund, who has invested 15% of the capital whereas 85% of the capital has been externally raised.
Similarly, Ahmedabad based accelerator, DevX – which is a sector-agnostic fund – has invested Rs 15 crore in some 15 startups thus far in the SAAS, fintech, and direct-to-consumer brand sectors. Another city-based seed-stage venture fund, Amara Ventures, has also invested in more than 15 startups in about a year.
Dholakia Venture, a VC fund by Savji Dholakia, a leading diamantaire from Surat, has also been registered as an investment arm of the Dholakia Family Office to fund startups.
Beeline of investors from Gujarat
With Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) supporting alternative investment funds, at least 20 AIFs have registered with IFSC authority, at the country’s first International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in Gandhinagar. TOI had reported that the AIFs are looking to manage funds to the tune of Rs 40,000 crore at GIFT City, whereas 30 other proposals for AIFs are awaiting clearance.
Besides registered VC funds, several successful businessmen and entrepreneurs have also funded startups by enrolling in one or the other angel networks. For instance, Ravi Pathak, owner of Tatvic Analytics who is also registered with an angel fund, said, “While the local economy is maturing, several new generation startups are preparing well in advance and are coming up with innovations in technology and product offerings. The quality of companies has also begun to grow and they are more willing to adapt to changes over time. ”
Entrepreneurs back startups
Ahmedabad-based Rasna Group is gearing up to invest up to Rs 300 crore in startups over the coming three years. “We see a lot of opportunities in startups, and we have created a separate entity within the group to invest in new ventures. Recently we angel-funded two startups with a 26% minority stake,” said Rasna Group CMD, Piruz Khambatta.
The group identifies promising startups through IIT-Gandhinagar, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), and the World Zarathushti Chamber of Commerce (WZCC).
Similarly, diversified conglomerate Chiripal Group has also invested in as many as 50 startups in India and abroad thus far. Nandan Terry Ltd CEO, Ronak Chiripal, said, “Our investments are in the space of EVs, fast-charging batteries, fintech, edutech, robotics, textile waste recycling, agritech, logistic and eVTOLs. Young entrepreneurs are market disruptors and seasoned industrialists can contribute and mentor them so that they make their offering scalable and customize it to make it more appealing to the end users. ”
Ahmedabad-based Claris group, which began investing in startups over 7 years ago has also floated an entity, Claris Capital, to fund startups. “Young entrepreneurs have a passion for their ideas, and we fund innovative ventures, which can successfully address real-time issues in agriculture technology and consumer business segments. We have invested in some 35 startups and exited four so far,” said Arjun Handa, chairman, Claris Group.
Bullish returns attract funding
Most startup businesses are based on technology and are easily scalable. If a good idea is supported by the right kind of funding and technology, industry players believe the growth could be rapid and clearly in double digits. Most investors are witnessing decent returns at the time of exit.
“The journey of investing in new startups at various stages has been very promising. We have already exited two startups with a sizeable 3x return on our investments. We are in the process of exiting another startup and are expecting sizeable returns there as well. Over time, we plan to expand our corpus and fund more startups in specific domains,” said Umesh Uttamchandani, co-founder, DevX.
—With inputs from Niyati Parikh
The need for capital is crucial for startups not just at an early stage, but at the growth-and-acceleration stage as well. A case in point is Kettle Borough Venture Capital based in Ahmedabad which registered last year. “The startup ecosystem in Gujarat is maturing and it is only wise to fund local entrepreneurs. We have already made investments worth Rs 3 crore since our inception last year. By June 2022, we aim to invest Rs 10 crore in startups,” said Nisarg Shah, managing partner of the fund, who has invested 15% of the capital whereas 85% of the capital has been externally raised.
Similarly, Ahmedabad based accelerator, DevX – which is a sector-agnostic fund – has invested Rs 15 crore in some 15 startups thus far in the SAAS, fintech, and direct-to-consumer brand sectors. Another city-based seed-stage venture fund, Amara Ventures, has also invested in more than 15 startups in about a year.
Dholakia Venture, a VC fund by Savji Dholakia, a leading diamantaire from Surat, has also been registered as an investment arm of the Dholakia Family Office to fund startups.
Beeline of investors from Gujarat
With Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) supporting alternative investment funds, at least 20 AIFs have registered with IFSC authority, at the country’s first International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in Gandhinagar. TOI had reported that the AIFs are looking to manage funds to the tune of Rs 40,000 crore at GIFT City, whereas 30 other proposals for AIFs are awaiting clearance.
Besides registered VC funds, several successful businessmen and entrepreneurs have also funded startups by enrolling in one or the other angel networks. For instance, Ravi Pathak, owner of Tatvic Analytics who is also registered with an angel fund, said, “While the local economy is maturing, several new generation startups are preparing well in advance and are coming up with innovations in technology and product offerings. The quality of companies has also begun to grow and they are more willing to adapt to changes over time. ”
Entrepreneurs back startups
Ahmedabad-based Rasna Group is gearing up to invest up to Rs 300 crore in startups over the coming three years. “We see a lot of opportunities in startups, and we have created a separate entity within the group to invest in new ventures. Recently we angel-funded two startups with a 26% minority stake,” said Rasna Group CMD, Piruz Khambatta.
The group identifies promising startups through IIT-Gandhinagar, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), and the World Zarathushti Chamber of Commerce (WZCC).
Similarly, diversified conglomerate Chiripal Group has also invested in as many as 50 startups in India and abroad thus far. Nandan Terry Ltd CEO, Ronak Chiripal, said, “Our investments are in the space of EVs, fast-charging batteries, fintech, edutech, robotics, textile waste recycling, agritech, logistic and eVTOLs. Young entrepreneurs are market disruptors and seasoned industrialists can contribute and mentor them so that they make their offering scalable and customize it to make it more appealing to the end users. ”
Ahmedabad-based Claris group, which began investing in startups over 7 years ago has also floated an entity, Claris Capital, to fund startups. “Young entrepreneurs have a passion for their ideas, and we fund innovative ventures, which can successfully address real-time issues in agriculture technology and consumer business segments. We have invested in some 35 startups and exited four so far,” said Arjun Handa, chairman, Claris Group.
Bullish returns attract funding
Most startup businesses are based on technology and are easily scalable. If a good idea is supported by the right kind of funding and technology, industry players believe the growth could be rapid and clearly in double digits. Most investors are witnessing decent returns at the time of exit.
“The journey of investing in new startups at various stages has been very promising. We have already exited two startups with a sizeable 3x return on our investments. We are in the process of exiting another startup and are expecting sizeable returns there as well. Over time, we plan to expand our corpus and fund more startups in specific domains,” said Umesh Uttamchandani, co-founder, DevX.
—With inputs from Niyati Parikh
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