Top 20 Venture Capitalist in India for NRI Investment

Do you want to become a venture capitalist in India? Well, we are here to help you become one of the top VCs in India. However, before that, let us understand what venture capital is and how it can help you with investments.

Venture Capital is a type of private equity financing that new companies can avail of if they do not wish to take money from private lenders. As an NRI, you can invest in companies that you believe have great potential and will sustain long-term.

These investments may benefit you by giving you high returns. However, you must understand that they come with certain risks as well. So, choosing the right venture capital firms is vital before investing.

Venture capital is different from other forms of private equity investments. This is because venture capitalists mainly invest in new companies or their seed stage. Hence, if you are investing in venture capital, you will most likely be investing your money indirectly, with high risks.

Top 20 Venture Capital Firms for NRI Investment

VC investment worth Rs 10 lakh crore. Before investing in any company, it is vital to know about the best venture capital companies in India and the companies they invest money. This will help you understand the best companies and industries to invest in.

Here are the 20 top venture capital firms in India:

Sequoia Capital

This is one of the biggest venture capital firms in India. Its office is in Bangalore, India. Sequoia Capital prefers investing in early-stage technology, healthcare, consumer products and service line-based companies.

The company has a team of daring, risk-taking leaders in the business. It picks approximately 15 to 20 companies to invest in every six months and established as a limited liability company. If you invest in it, you will become a limited partner.

Accel

This is a US-based venture capital firm that has establishments in UK, India and China. They have played a major role in boosting a few of our Indian start-up companies like Swiggy, Flipkart and Blackbuck in India.

The company have grown into such a big company by offering mentorship to its investment companies. It is also known to stay with them throughout the different stages that a private company sees, rather than only the early stage of investment.

Blume Ventures

This is one of the Indian venture capital companies that has its main goal established around helping their chosen companies bloom, as suggested by their name “Blume”. They have their headquarters in Mumbai and provide seed-stage financing to companies.

Moreover, they also offer mentoring services along with financing. They mainly invest in technology-based companies that will go a long way in the Indian markets. This company is said to be driven by motivation, and the whole team is united by ambition.

Elevation Capital

Earlier known as SAIF Partners, Elevation Capital believes that it can never be too early to fund a start-up. They have helped several companies like MakeMyTrip, Swiggy, ClearTax, Urban Company and Paytm grow.

Founded in the year 2011, they have their headquarters located in Gurgaon with a focus on consumers, enterprises, the logistics sector and other B2B companies. They are known for their investments in seed-stage companies.

Tiger Global Management

Tiger Global Management LLC is a company with businesses in India, China and the US. They have been investing in both private as well as public companies in the technological industries, namely, the payment sector, internet and software.

Their private equity segment was founded in 2001. The public equity segment was founded in 2003 when they started researching deeply into their chosen sectors and became one of the top 10 venture capital firms in India.

They have invested in more than 400 early ventures in their journey. The VC firm has played a vital role in establishing India’s biggest start-ups like Flipkart, Moglix and Urban Company.

Kalaari Capital

As one of India’s best venture capital funds, this company invests in technology sector companies. It was founded in 2006 and envisions helping start-ups that actively contribute to the evolution of the standard of living in our country.

They plan to make an early partnership with the founders. Which aims to guide them throughout their journey, not only financially but also by helping them face other various challenges.

They have more than 90 investments in India, some of which have been in giants like Myntra and other companies like Snapdeal and Zivame. Although they have made their exit from some of these companies.

Matrix Partners

This US-based company invests in seed-stage and early-stage companies in India and the US. It came to India in 2006 and currently has offices in three cities- Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore. They have invested in companies like Ola, which is used significantly by the Indian audience.

The company specialize in e-commerce, travel, health, fintech, ed tech, and other B2B model companies. They also have Indian companies set as their preference.

Fluid Venture

An early-stage, Direct to Consumer focused VC fund, Fluid Ventures invests in Indian entrepreneurs and is registered with SEBI. The firm’s current portfolio is focused on the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and consumer sectors.

Fluid Ventures announced the full closing of its first fund at Rs. 50 crore ($6.6 million). The company stated that the fund had a target corpus of Rs. 45 crores (about $5.9 million) and had used its green shoe option to raise the additional capital.

Ventures Highway

Venture Highway is a private equity firm that focuses on seed funding companies. It was established in 2010 and presently caters to young companies in the information technology sector. A couple of its most well-known investments are in Meesho and CureLink.

To date, Venture Highway has raised a total of Rs. 560 crores across two funds. The most recent fund is called the Venture Highway Fund II. To help young innovators get their businesses off the ground, Venture Highway partners with them to offer advice and funding. They aim to form partnerships with entrepreneurs with the drive and skills to build successful enterprises.

Axilor Ventures

Start-up accelerator and early-stage seed fund Axilor Ventures was formed by Kris Gopalakrishnan and SD Shibulal, two of the co-founders of Infosys. Mainly, they invest in early-stage businesses related to the consumer internet, enterprise SaaS, healthcare tech, artificial intelligence, fintech, and industrial IoT.

EnKash, Womaniya, and others are among the brands they’ve worked with in the past. According to Cipherbio, the company has amassed a whopping Rs. 200 crores in funding. Many promising early-stage businesses have benefited from Axilor, an Indian venture capital firm founded by some of the industry’s most renowned entrepreneurs.

VentureEast

Ventureast is an early and growth stage fund focusing on technology, healthcare, life sciences, food/Agri, and cleantech. It has been investing since 1997, making it one of India’s early venture capital organizations. Some brands in their portfolio include-Acko, Portea, and Ekincare.

The single venture fund of VenturEast has received contributions totalling Rs. 6 billion to date. It is the only Indian fund manager with specialized funds and personnel for each industry. At Ventureast, the emphasis is on start-ups that are growing rapidly and that have distinct competitive advantages.

Trifecta Capital dvisors

Trifecta Capital Advisors is an investment firm that helps Indian start-ups with funding. In May 2021, during the pandemic’s second wave, the Trifecta Leaders Fund – I opened for business and held its first close in July.

Box 8, Cure.fit, and BharatPe are just a few of their well-known ventures. They put their money mostly into the consumer technology, healthcare, and government sectors. In total, Trifecta Capital Advisors has attracted Rs. 730 crores in funding.

Zodius Capital

Zodius Capital was established in 2011. It provides financial backing to Indian start-ups operating in big data analytics, digital media and commerce, and educational technology. Their portfolio includes Zivame and Pepperfry, amongst others.

Zodius Technology Fund II, the more current of the two funds managed by Zodius Capital, has raked in a total of Rs. 12.5 billion. They have made investments in businesses with a strong potential for growth and the ability to disrupt the industry.

Because they have a deep understanding of the topic and have conducted considerable research into the digital practice business, Avendus is in an excellent position to recognize emerging industry leaders.

Qualcomm Ventures

It is the investment arm of Qualcomm Inc., known as Qualcomm Ventures. The fund began operations in 2000 and has invested in more than 150 different companies so far. Ola, Ninjacart, Zoom, and other companies are some of its most well-known investments.

Mainly, they put money into consumer electronics, internet of things devices, automobiles, and artificial intelligence. They put money into businesses that use Qualcomm’s core technologies to broaden the mobile ecosystem.

Nirvana Ventures

Nirvana Venture Advisors finances innovative start-ups in the internet, mobile, and electronic payment sectors. The firm focuses on industry leaders with proven business strategies and a solid foothold in the local market. Unbxd, Bombay, and UrbanPro are just a few of their products.

Nirvana Venture Advisors has amassed Rs 327 crore over two separate funds so far. When trying to gain an edge in a competitive market, they look for capable entrepreneurs with unique insights into their target demographic’s minds.

Ascent Capital

Over 175 years of combined Indian GP experience makes Ascent one of India’s most seasoned and reliable GP teams. More than a hundred of the most brilliant business minds in the world have received growth capital from Ascent to create industry-altering enterprises.

The firm invests in diverse sectors, including information technology and information technology services (IT & ITES), consumer technology (e-commerce, fintech, edtech), healthcare and pharmaceuticals (H&P), and the financial services industry (BFSI). Ascent Capital, founded in 2001, is an India-centric venture capital firm. Big Basket, MyGlamm, Cure.fit, etc., are just a few of the brands in their portfolio.

Kae Capital

Kae Capital is an early-stage investment firm with no industry-specific preference. Their portfolio companies range from 1MG to Nua to Porter and beyond. Two separate funds have brought in a total of Rs. 4 billion for Kae Capital.

Kae Capital has been investing in India for ten years and counting, making it one of the country’s earliest and most active venture capital firms. It works with start-ups to create products for the Indian and international markets. Kae aspires to be an all-weather partner to the founders in its portfolio.

Helion Venture Partners

Helion Ventures is a venture capital firm supervised by the DIFC and located in Dubai. They invest in tokens, fintech, blockchain, metaverse, and Defi projects in the early development phases. They have had a significant presence in the Middle East since 1999. Over the years, they have cultivated solid connections and established themselves as a dependable presence.

Helion Ventures Partners is a venture capital firm that invests in tech-enabled and consumer service firms. The firm operates in both the early and mid stages of the venture capital industry. Products such as Whatfix, Slintel, and Livspace, amongst others, are included in their portfolio.

Antler India

Antler India is a worldwide early-stage venture capital firm. It invests inE-commerce, education, mobile, and financial technology businesses and has notable clients, such as Flint, Codedamn, and Payd, among others, in its portfolio. Which has brought in a combined amount of Rs. 620 crores over its four funds.

Antler was founded on the premise that people innovating is the key to creating a better future. With this belief as its foundation, Antler partners with extraordinary founders across six continents to develop and scale firms that address important opportunities and issues.

Artha India Venture Fund

Founded in 2013, Artha India Ventures is a seed capital firm in the Indian economy. They spread their money around by investing in many sectors, including the financial technology sector, retail and consumer technology, online commerce, and supply chain management.

Talview, Purplle, Goodloans, and others feature in their portfolio. Artha India Ventures’ first venture funds in india raised a total of Rs. 2.2 billion. The foundation of Artha’s investing approach is the company’s prowess in spotting promising start-ups and helping them become market leaders.

Key Features of Venture Capital Investments

The following are the critical features of venture Capital Investments:

Long-term Investments

The time involved in venture capital funding is a very significant element. Many start-ups go through various investment rounds because they haven’t yet reached that level wherein they can entice people to replace venture capital investors.

Lack of Liquidity

Most venture capital investments lack liquidity and therefore are illiquid. VCs don’t often get quick payoffs, unlike publicly traded assets. An IPO has significant returns for venture capitalists in the long run. Most venture capitalists invest in small businesses, which implies that there are very few ways in which they can get their money back.

Risky Business

VCs invest in newly founded and started businesses. These are typically those businesses that are motivated to capitalize on a new concept or technological advancement. This shows that Venture capital is risky, as venture capital-funded start-ups can either succeed or fail.

Defined Exit

Most Venture Capitalists have a clear exit strategy from the moment they invest in a start-up.

Key Considerations for Assessing Venture Capital Funds

While the startup grows and starts looking for funding. An entrepreneur starts looking for different kinds of choices where so many options are available that it is difficult to figure out How to assess the startup.

Investment Approach

There is a vital factor that should be considered while evaluating a VC firm is its investment approach. This is an important metric that which type of business they are investing and the value they are bringing to the business. 

For example, some VCs invest in early-stage startups and few of them look for growth startups even a few of them provide preference for sector and business model.

While approaching a startup it must be aligned with your philosophy of the business goal and vision if it is different from the business goal then later it can create confusion between the parties.

Performance History

We should find which type of companies VCs invested in and the growth of their portfolio companies.

Group 

This needs to be considered VC members are suitable for the company culture and have cooperative behavior that will help to grow the business in the long term.

Value Enhancement

VCs can endeavour to grow the business by providing their experience, and strategy which can be beneficiary for the long term of the business.  

Some VC firms are great compared to their peers when it comes to delivering value-added services. If you’re looking for more than just financial support, it’s vital to find a firm that can serve assistance and resources.

By checking these things about venture capital (VC) firms, you can find the best find the best match for your company.

Understanding Venture Capitalists in India

Institutional or private investment is made in early-stage or start-up businesses. Money invested in start-ups or small enterprises with enormous growth potential is known as venture capital. Venture capitalists make these investments (VCs).

Venture Capitalists are people who invest in early-stage start-ups which have the potential for development and profitability.

It is a known fact that any start-up’s goal is to expand or scale up its size. Operating on a bigger scale has more cost and performance requirements, regardless of whether the business sells produced goods or provides services. Funding is necessary for growth here, and Venture Capitalists offer the same in exchange for a part of the company’s future profits.

Also, read: Angel Investors: What Is Angel Investing & How Does It Work?

Venture Capitalist in India – Summary

The VC firms give funds to start-ups and small companies to either start their business from scratch or grow the ongoing small venture. Venture Capitalists in India invest their money in a company in exchange for equity. They usually invest in the firms they see with high potential for profit & growth.

In this article, we have discussed the Top 20 Venture Capital companies in India for NRI Investment. This is a tailor-made list of all these capitalists and everything you need to know about them. So if you are seeking funds for your new venture, you know the best investors now!

Also Read- Bootstrapping for Startups – Strategies for Success

Frequently Asked Questions