Home-Coming for Venture Capital
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https://telegram.me/TheHindu_Zone https://telegram.me/PDF4EXAMS Power of Ideas 21 WWW.ECONOMICTIMES.COM Home-coming for Venture Capital An increasing number of fund managers now look up to India’s home-grown Fund of Funds for venture capital, SIDBI, ushering in a silent revolution for an industry that has been largely dependent on foreign capital, says Taslima Khan round June last year, entre- wherein they declare the size of the fund, preneur-turned-venture areas they would be investing in, time- capitalist Manish Singhal lines they will follow for investments, First-Time Fund Managers Backed by SIDBI in the was looking to raise his terms for managing the fund, and the Past One Year (From a Total of 17 Funds) first venture fund, and he returns they would expect. Proposals thought it was the toughest are then vetted by the Venture Capital PI VENTURES `192 crore UNICORN INDIA VENTURES task he had ever under- Investment Committee, or VCIC, which FUND I ` taken. Singhal had earlier co-founded includes Naukri Founder Sanjeev early-stage, deep-technology fund 100 crore fund focused on seed-, Astartup financing platform Letsventure. Bhikchandani, IAN cofounder Saurabh focused on artifi cial intelligence, early-, and growth-stage companies in social As he searched far and wide for investors Srivastava, software lobby Nasscom’s machine learning and Internet of media, mobile, analytics & Cloud, IOT, and in his maiden fund, the Small Industries Kiran Karnik and Mohandas Pai, among Things. Has contributions from a fi ntech. Recently invested in microlending Development Bank of India, or SIDBI, others. SIDBI commits to invest about host of other investors, including startup SmartCoin Accel Partners, Mohandas Pai, came to his rescue, committing signifi- 15% to 25% of the fund corpus, post which STELLARIS FUND ` cant investments. fund managers have to secure commit- Binny Bansal, Deep Kalra, and 641 crore fund “The biggest comfort came from the fact ments from other entities, and SIDBI then others founded by former top executives at Helion that Sidbi trusted our ability quite early releases the funds. Ventures Partners. Focused on early- stage when we didn’t even have commitments Unlike the international connotation ANKUR CAPITAL `60 opportunities in consumer technology, from other investors, and were only at for fund of funds that have a closed life crore impact investor, focused online small and medium businesses (SMBs), a concept stage,” said Singhal, who is and a formal structure, SIDBI has majorly on innovative businesses in and ventures in the global software-as-a targeting to close his deep technology- been investing over the past two decades agriculture, healthcare, education, service space focused fund at `195 crore. He has com- from its balance-sheet and government skill development, and rural access. ENDIYA SEED Has investments in companies such mitments from several overseas and local contributions. CO-CREATION FUND ` high net-worth individuals (HNIs) and It plays fund of funds under various as Suma Agro and CropIn 175 crore funds, such as the early-stage Flipkart- heads: A `10,000-crore fund of funds spon- early-stage venture fund focused on backer Accel India. He adds, “We did not sored by the government and managed by MENTERRA SOCIAL startups in software as a service (SaaS), enterprise security, AI, VR, robotics, 3D go through the experience that SIDBI did SIDBI, the `2,000-crore India Aspiration IMPACT FUND I ` 40 crore Printing, and IoT not understand what we were doing.” Fund, launched in 2015 and investing in impact fund that invests in early- Singhal is not alone. First-time fund micro, small and medium enterprises, the stage social enterprises working OORJA CAPITAL manager Rema Subramanian, who runs `60 crore Aspire Fund that invests in agri $60 million consumer in the sectors of education, health, internet fund fl oated by former founding the `60 crore Ankur Capital, Stellaris businesses, and funds received through agriculture, and energy team at Seedfund Venture Partners, founded by former budgetary allocations. The institution Helion executives and counts Infosys as also manages `200 crore from the Life a limited partner, and seasoned players Insurance Corporation of India. such as Blume Ventures, Kae Capital and For several funds, commitments from To date, SIDBI has committed IDG Ventures are increasingly looking up a domestic institution help build cred- `3,521.29 crore to 125 funds, while to SIDBI, which has emerged as the home- ibility, and make drawing funds from grown fund of funds. other investors easier. “SIDBI investing disbursements of `1,273.26 crore The trend in capital sourcing marks a in a fund significantly increases the con- have been made to 82 funds silent revolution for the domestic venture fidence of all other investors worldwide,” SIDBI’s Steady Rise capital industry, which has hitherto been says Sudhir Sethi, Managing Director at majorly dependent on overseas cash. IDG Ventures which often likes to brand Funds Committed Funds Disbursed Number of Sanctions to funds “With external money, there is always itself as the ‘desi’ VC of India. a fluid situation. Sometimes, it is in one “It also gives sectoral comfort to inter- 11 19 37 economy, and sometimes it is funding national investors, given the fact that (`crore) another destination. Also, overseas inves- in sectors such tors end up bearing the currency risk as as agriculture, if 1400 much of their returns get eaten away due SIDBI commits there is an Indian to currency depreciation. Additionally, to invest about financial institution 1200 the flavour of investments keeps dan- 15% to 25 % willing to take the 1000 gling between the early and late stages, of the fund bet, then they are and across favourite sectors,” says Ajay corpus, post more than happy 800 Kumar Kapur, deputy managing director which fund to come in,” said 600 at SIDBI. managers Rema Subramanian, The rising interest in SIDBI as a source have to secure Managing Partner 400 of capital is evident in the increase in the commitments at Ankur Capital, number of sanctions and capital commit- from other which has raised 200 ` ments to fund managers in the last couple entities a 60 crore fund 0 of fiscal years. The number of sanctions focused on agritech, FY15 FY16 FY17 to funds rose to 37 in FY17 over 11 in FY15, health, and education with contribution and capital commitments in the last two from SIDBI. years have nearly quadrupled -- from To be sure, SIDBI usually doesn’t make `314.4 crore in FY 2015 to `1,202.5 crore the first commitment, and requires fund Why SIDBI’s Rise as a Sovereign Fund is a Game Changer in FY17. managers to get firm promises from other Reduces dependence on “The overall funding to startups from investors before they approach SIDBI. “It foreign capital that is cyclical SIDBI’S FUND-O-FUNDA the SIDBI-supported venture funds this depends on the quality of the team and ` year could be in the range of 3,000 to 4,000 market scenario, but if SIDBI makes the Improves fund managers’ crore. This is because most funds that got first commitment then that portion of the credibility among `10,000 crore sanctions last year are likely to achieve money is blocked before the fund man- international investors Fund of Funds for startups full closure this year,” says former ager goes around and gets commitment Infosys director TV Mohandas Pai, who is from others, so disbursement ends up tak- Is a boost for fi rst-time fund also a member of SIDBI’s Venture Capital ing more time,” said Harkesh Mittal, head managers with no track record `60 crore `2,000 crore Investment Committee. of the National Science and Technology Eventually will multiply fund Aspire Fund for India Aspiration Fund for micro, Raising a fund is a highly sensitive and Entrepreneurship Development Board pool to startups agri businesses small and medium enterprises grueling exercise for fund managers, at the Department of Science and and there are several reasons for native Technology. “SIDBI would usually take capital helping change the startup- about three to six months to consider a investment ecosystem in the country. sanction – and that is a fair pace.” Fund managers are discovering differ- Monetary returns from funds are still ent comfort zones in having a financial a mixed bag. “We call it the hockey stick We have It also gives sectoral backer at home. “You can invest while you curve. All taken together, we have been ILLUSTRATION: ANIRBAN BORA been able to comfort to international do the fund raising (at home), compared able to get returns in high single-digits. disbursed happens to be `1,273.26 crore with the situation that needs you to travel Some funds have given returns of 20%, in 82 funds. “Generally, about 15 to 20% of is home to one of the world’s most valued get returns in investors given the fact overseas, and you have to do road shows while some have not been able to give the money committed per year is actually startup companies in the last few years, high single- that in sectors such as for about a month (raising money from returns at all because of the kind of bets disbursed,” says Kapur. has enhanced its role in startup funding foreign investors),” says Sanjay Nath, they have taken on startup companies. Some experts believe that the institu- through investments in venture funds. digits. Some agriculture, if there is managing partner at Blume Ventures, The bad apples come first and the multi- tion should be better known internation- According to the consultancy company funds have given returns an Indian fi nancial institution willing which had SIDBI as a participant in its baggers usually come at the end of the ally to help drive the credibility of fund Zero2IPO, Chinese government-backed first fund and a key domestic anchor in- fund life,” said Kapur, who refuses to dis- managers backed by SIDBI.