Pioneering India's Tech Investment Landscape: IIMA Ventures IIMA's investment thesis revolves around ideas for solving larger problems in the deep-tech, inclusive-tech, and climate-tech spaces at the earliest stages of their journey.
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IIMA Ventures (formerly known as IIMA-CIIE) is known as one of India's oldest early-stage tech investment platforms. The firm incubates market-making initiatives across three broad technology and impact thematic areas: deep-tech, inclusive-tech, and climate-tech.
Priyanka Agarwal Chopra, Managing Partner, IIMA Ventures, shares about the firm's journey, "From being a publisher of bestsellers on entrepreneurship to creating India's first accelerator programs across a variety of sectors to multiplying impact by setting up regional incubation across several Tier II cities of India; from being an active seed-investor and catalytic capital provider to more than startups to being the first academic incubator to set up tough tech-focused venture platforms, our path-breaking interventions have plugged gaps across the entire entrepreneurial value chain."
Along the way, the firm has partnered with leading corporations, multilaterals, government bodies, and foundations such as SIDBI, DST, Accenture, Philips, Cisco, SAP, IFC, JP Morgan, the Gates Foundation, and Michael and Susan Dell Foundation.
"We have also recently set up an INR 40 crore 'Accelerator Fund' in partnership with SIDBI to strengthen the early-stage deep tech ecosystem in the country," adds Priyanka.
Priyanka's journey as an investor began when she joined IIMA Ventures almost a decade ago, having spent a significant part of her career in the big tech industry in the US in engineering, product design, and corporate strategy roles.
"I find it incredibly fulfilling to bring my deep understanding of technology, people, and processes to help our startups navigate challenges and set themselves up for scale," says Priyanka.
IIMA's investment thesis revolves around ideas for solving larger problems in the deep-tech, inclusive-tech, and climate-tech spaces at the earliest stages of their journey.
According to Priyanka, "IIMA Ventures has become a driving force behind India's burgeoning startup ecosystem. Since 2008, we have supported and nurtured over 1,700 startups that have collectively raised over USD 1 billion in funding."
Regarding the firm's outlook for FY 2024–25, Priyanka shares that IIMA is optimistic about continuing our support for deep tech startups, inclusive tech ventures, and climate tech solutions.
"We plan to invest in an additional 30-35 startups across these themes, leveraging our expertise and network to help these companies grow and succeed. We anticipate increased interest and participation from the investment ecosystem in these sectors."
The firm's portfolio includes startups that have been redefining terms in their respective spaces recently, notably the likes of Agnikul, Ideaforge recently hit IPO, Razorpay, Biosense, and Transerve, among others.
Facts:
Portfolio size:
- Incubated/accelerated: 1700+
- Equity investments at pre-seed/seed stage: 350+
- Equity investments at early growth stage: 40+
Average Ticket Size:
- For pre-seed/seed stage startups: USD 25k to USD 200k
- For early growth: USD 1 Mn to USD 3 Mn
Total Exits: 40+
