Where great companies will take root

Big backing + tiny fund = giant impact

Seedfund is now seeded. We’re at work.

Here’s our story. We wanted to put together the right elements in a fund that could back true innovation in India.

We started with the team- People that had hands-on experience with raw startups in India. Pravin Gandhi and Bharati Jacob came from Infinity Venture, the fund behind Indiabulls, Indiagames and the like. Mahesh Murthy came from Passionfund, where he backed Geodesic, Pinstorm and other successes. 

Then the fund size - From our experience, we figured the right amount of funding for an Indian startup wasn’t in the millions or in tens of millions of dollars range. It was closer to about $500,000. We also figured we could work closely with about 15 or 20 companies over the next 5 years – and hence arrived at a fund size of about $15 million. We can therefore invest from Rs. 1 to 5 crores in a startup company. That probably makes us India’s smallest VC fund – but, hey, small can be beautiful. 

Next, the target sectors - We decided to stick close to businesses we know – and sectors that can make a big difference, not just in the global market – but in the large Indian market too. So we’re looking mostly at internet or media or mobile or telecom or retail or consumer-facing plays – and also for things that aren’t yet “sectors”. 

On to the investors - In this market, money is cheap – but the right money makes the difference. We wanted limited partners that could add significant strategic value to our startups – and we’ve been lucky enough to end up with a dream team here too: institutions like Motorola Ventures, Reliance ADA Group, SVB Financial Group, an affiliate of Silicon Valley Bank, Sierra Ventures, Mayfield Fund, Google, Edelweiss Capital – and individuals like Kanwal Rekhi, KB Chandrashekhar, B V Jagadeesh and Sridar Iyengar. 

And our location  - We have offices in Bombay and Bangalore – and we typically prefer to work with companies not too far away from us. 

Now all we need is you - If you have a great business idea, send it to us in confidence. If you’d like to partner with us in some interesting capacity, write to us here.