Kisho Capital Launches Rolling Fund Targeting Early-stage Tech Startups In India The fund plans to support about 20 startups annually by investing up to INR 1 crore in each under its programme
By Prabhjeet Bhatla •
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Delhi-based early-stage venture capital fund Kisho Capital on Wednesday announced the launch of a rolling fund—which will focus on startups looking to capitalize on a tech-focused India growth story—the world's second-largest Internet market.
The fund plans to support about 20 startups annually by investing upto INR 1 crore in each under its programme.
Kisho Capital's fund model is oriented towards startups in the Seed/Pre-series A rounds which are technologically advanced with initial traction, especially those that use artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) for personalization and automation.
Founded by seasoned entrepreneurs and investors, Akshay Chhugani and Ankush Nijhawan, Kisho Capital's goal is to deliver top-quality investment advice to all their investors with the best in class due-diligent and access to some of the best mentors expertise in the Indian start-up ecosystem. It seeks opportunities in scalable technology sectors for a better tomorrow such as home automation, health tech, social community, B2B SaaS, and fintech companies.
"The whole idea for Kisho Capital was conceptualized as a rolling fund with investors from a few of India's biggest corporate houses and start-ups who come together both financially and strategically to build the future of Indian start-ups. Our primary focus is to back early-stage founders who are not only passionate about solving core user issues but also understand the business and scalability side of things," said Ankush Chhugani, founder, Kisho Capital.
The rolling fund gives the company the flexibility to raise a fraction of the total fund and start investing straight away with quarterly/annual commitments from the investors. The investment philosophy is very simple as the focus is on the core team and how complex daily problems are being solved using technology.
The platform is sector agonistic and encourages start-ups from varied fields from banking to insurance to logistics to healthtech or a D2C Brand, ensuring there is a big enough market size of the sector that an entrepreneur is trying to solve for.
"The opportunity for early-stage investing is still in its nascent stages in India given the huge youth population and the brilliant mindsets of the entrepreneurs combined with the never-ending on-ground issues that exist. A lot of venture funding is still concentrated in the metro cities namely Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, and Mumbai, however, we have witnessed some very successful start-ups coming out of tier-II cities and beyond," added Chuggani.
Their current mentor board includes Sandeep Dwivedi, COO, InterGlobe Technology Quotient; Sahil Jain, co-founder, Dineout; Azhar Iqubal, co-founder, inShorts; Pushkar Singh, founder, LetsTransport; Vikas Bagaria, founder, PeeSafe; and the advisory board of Gaurav Bhatanagar, Ishpreet Gandhi and Tripti Singhal.
