Get All Access for $5/mo

Meet the 'Founders For Founders' Rajesh Sawhney, founder and CEO, GSF Accelerator has invested in 100-plus startups

By Shrabona Ghosh

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.

Entrepreneur

Angel investors— angels in disguise for the startup ecosystem. They invest, support, mentor, repeat!

One such angel investor is Rajesh Sawhney, founder and CEO, GSF Accelerator. "I have done 100-plus investments in startups since 2010 and in 2021 alone, I have done 40 investments," says the CEO.

Giving an insight into the investment thesis, he says, "We write the first cheque in the company.We call ourselves founders for founders-the funding and mentoring platform."

Throwing some light on how he helped startups grow, he says,"Whatfix is widely regarded as an iconic category creator in digital adoption. It's now on its way to IPO in a couple of years. It was incubated by us in 2013-14 and one of our venture partners even joined them as founder to help them grow in international markets. Similarly, Quizizz is a fast growing global edtech company which we incubated. They pivoted from a content-based company to a platform approach and grew exponentially thereafter."

"Slintel is a fast growing SaaS company. We incubated it in 2017-18 and helped them to build a sales engine for the US market. It was acquired by 6sense in October. Top 10 companies from our portfolio have created a market capitalisation of over $2 billion now."

Looking at the promising startups, he shares his investment outlook, "It looks extremely bullish especially on the trillion dollar Indian SaaS opportunity. We have a vibrant portfolio of SaaS companies at different stages: Whatfix at Series D, Slintel at Series C, HackerEarth at Series B, Zenduty at Series A and we incubated Upscale in 2021. Besides, we are equally excited about Indian focused fintech, social commerce, edtech and healthtech startups."

Sawhney is a serial entrepreneur and business builder who has set-up multiple successful businesses over the last two decades. He is the founder of GSF. It provides tech startups mentorship from celebrated digital founders, initial capital and global exposure. He also co-founded InnerChef.

He has made over 100 investments as one of the leading angel investors in India, which include Viki acquired by Rakutan, Little Eye Labs acquired by Facebook, IMGN acquired by Warner Music, Pokkt acquired by Anymind Grouo, Dailyrounds acquired by 3M Group, Weareholidays acquired by Cox & Kings, Instalively acquired by Hike Messenger and Nightstay acquired by Paytm.

His current portfolio consists of big hits like Whatfix, Quizizz, Slintel, FlintoClass, Citymall, Breathe well-being, Gamezop, Orowealth, Khabri, Newsbytes, Zenduty, Vaultedge, Bimaplan, Codingal, Salarybox.

Factsheet:

  • Portfolio size: 100 companies

  • Average ticket size/sweet spot : $100-300,000 per company

  • Total no. of exits:10

Shrabona Ghosh

Correspondent

A journalist with a cosmopolitan mindset. I lead a project called 'Corporate Innovations' wherein I cover corporates across verticals and try to tell stories on innovations. Apart from this, I write industry pieces on FMCGs, auto, aviation, 5G and defense. 
Marketing

He Pitched His First Business at 12 and Sold a Company for 8 Figures When He Was 24. Here's This Gen Z Marketing Expert's Next Big Move.

Griffin Hadrill built a marketing empire working with artists like Justin Bieber and Lil Nas X. Learn how he tapped into Gen Z's digital culture and turned viral campaigns into a business model.

Business News

Apple Is Adding ChatGPT to iPhones This Week. Here's How It Works.

ChatGPT will take over questions that Siri can't answer.

Growing a Business

How to Spot Trends and Anticipate Market Shifts Before Your Competition

Discover how to identify disruptive trends before your competitors by mastering the art of anticipating market shifts. Learn strategies for staying ahead and gaining a competitive edge in business.

Leadership

As a Leader, Take These 5 Steps to Bridge the Gap Between Innovation and Execution

Companies that want to turn ideas into action must align their people and listen to their customers.

Business News

Macy's CEO Confirms Employee Made Accounting Errors Worth $151 Million, Though Not for 'Personal Gain'

The company announced its third-quarter earnings Wednesday after a delay.

Leadership

How to Master the Art of Delegation — Lessons From Andrew Carnegie's Legacy

Here's what Andrew Carnegie can teach today's entrepreneurs about leadership, teamwork and effective delegation.