SRI Capital launches maiden $100m fund focused on Indian, US tech startups

Photo: Reuters

By Pramugdha Mamgain

July 13, 2018

Early stage venture capital firm SRI Capital on Thursday launched its maiden $100 million fund focused on tech opportunities in the US and India.

Anchored by a $20 million commitment from the family office of Sashi Reddi, managing partner with SRI, the fund is raising capital primarily from investors in the US and Europe, it said in a statement.

Besides Reddi, partners in the fund include Doc Parghi who is based in Philadelphia as well as two more advisory partners, yet to be announced, based in India.

“There is a funding gap for Indian startups targeting US enterprise customers,” Reddi said. “While Indian VCs have struggled to support these US-focused startups, US VCs typically do not understand India-based tech teams. SRI Capital will fill this gap.”

The fund will typically invest $1 million to $3 million in a startup, with the potential to invest in future rounds to support the growth of the company. It expects to complete six to eight investments annually, the statement added.

To date, the fund has completed three investments including, IndianMoney, LetsMD, and Sports Flashes.

SRI has backed over 15 startups over the last five years, including ThinCI, a chip company for autonomous driving that recently raised over $20 million from Japanese auto supplier Denso and a clutch of high profile industry veterans; and PhenomPeople, a new age recruitment SaaS offering, leveraging social media and machine learning that recently raised $22 million from multiple investors, including Sierra Ventures and AXA Ventures. SRI Capital invested at the seed stage in both companies.

Its others investments include YuppTV, an OTT player for Indian content that recently raised $50 million from KK-backed Emerald Ventures, HealthifyMe, a healthy lifestyle startup that raised nearly $20 million from IDG Ventures, Samsung NEXT, Sistema Asia Fund, Inventus Capital, Blume and others, and FabHotels, a budget hotel chain.

Earlier this week, Chinese venture capital firm Ganesh Ventures also launched an India-focused fund with backing from e-commerce giant Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma to invest $250 million in startups across sectors like TMT, consumer products, fintech and health-tech over the next 3-5 years. Besides, Lightspeed India Partners Advisors Llp has raised second fund of $175 million to invest in startups in consumer internet, software and other businesses.

Also Read:

SoftBank’s Kabir Misra in advanced talks to set up $250m startup fund

Chinese VC Ganesh Ventures floats $250m India fund with backing from Jack Ma

 

 

Singapore Reporter/s

In Singapore, we are looking to double our reporting team by this year-end to comprehensively cover the fast-moving world of funded startups and VC, PE & M&A deals. We want reporters who can tell our readers what is really happening in these sectors and why it matters to markets, companies and consumers. The ability to write precisely and urgently is crucial for these roles. Ideal candidates must have to ability to work in a collaborative, dynamic, and fast-changing environment. We want our new hires to be digitally savvy and ready to experiment with new forms of storytelling. Most importantly, we are looking for hard-hitting reporters who work well in a team. Collaboration and collegiality are a must.

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).   

  • A reporter to track companies/startups that have raised private capital, and have the potential to become unicorns. SEA currently has over 40 companies with a valuation of over $100 million and under $1 billion.
  • A reporter who can get behind the scenes and reveal how funding rounds are put together, or why they’ve failed to materialise. She/he in this role will largely focus on long-format stories. 
  • A journalist to track special situations funds, distressed debt and private credit (from the PE angle) across Asia.
APPLY NOW

Singapore Reporter/s

In Singapore, we are looking to double our reporting team by this year-end to comprehensively cover the fast-moving world of funded startups and VC, PE & M&A deals. We want reporters who can tell our readers what is really happening in these sectors and why it matters to markets, companies and consumers. The ability to write precisely and urgently is crucial for these roles. Ideal candidates must have to ability to work in a collaborative, dynamic, and fast-changing environment. We want our new hires to be digitally savvy and ready to experiment with new forms of storytelling. Most importantly, we are looking for hard-hitting reporters who work well in a team. Collaboration and collegiality are a must.

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).   

  • A reporter to track companies/startups that have raised private capital, and have the potential to become unicorns. SEA currently has over 40 companies with a valuation of over $100 million and under $1 billion.
  • A reporter who can get behind the scenes and reveal how funding rounds are put together, or why they’ve failed to materialise. She/he in this role will largely focus on long-format stories. 
  • A journalist to track special situations funds, distressed debt and private credit (from the PE angle) across Asia.
APPLY NOW