The fund, which is a partner to Nasscom’s ’10, 000 Startups’ initiative, has so far received 1, 470 applications from various technology startups
Uttishta Yekum Fund , the debut seed fund from Hyderabad-based Utthishta Management Advisors LLP, is targeting to invest in at least 20 Indian technology startup companies every year, according to Mohsin Khan, general partner of the fund.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi)-registered alternative investment fund, with a fund size of Rs 70 crore, has so far invested in seven companies. These include New Delhi-based GreatWideOpen, an adventure travel company, and Claimback, which takes care of customer grievances against brands, and Hyderabad-based happyweddings.com.
Utthishta Yekum, which writes the ‘first cheque’ of between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 20 lakh for very very early-stage startups, has M Prabhakara Rao as its anchor investor with an already committed Rs 31-crore infusion into the fund. Rao is the chairman of Hyderabad-based Rs 5, 600-crore Nuziveedu Seeds Limited (NSL group), which has interests in agriculture, textiles, sugar and renewable energy.
“Our focus going forward will be on startups that are into mobility, software, analytics and cloud computing. And, we intend to invest in at least 20 such companies each year,” Khan told Business Standard on the sidelines of Nasscom Product Conclave 2014 here recently.
The fund, which is a partner to Nasscom’s ‘10, 000 Startups’ initiative, has so far received 1, 470 applications from various technology startups on its website.
According to P Rama Krishna, another general partner at Utthishta Yekum Fund, they typically pick up 10-15 per cent stake in very very early-stage startups in exchange of their investments.
“Since we invest at a very very early-stage, we hold on to them for at least five years for an exit. Of course, we do expect 18-19 per cent return on investment from them,” Krishna said, agreeing that purely product-focused companies in India where very less now.
source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> Companies> News / by K Rajani Kanth / Hyderabad – April 07th, 2014