Incubator

'Series-B financing faces extremely negative forces': Footprint Ventures - Outlook for 09 Part VI

Posted by Namitha Jagadeesh at 
Bangalore-based Footprint Ventures has been a cautious investor in India. It invests from a global fund and director Josh Bornstein spent more than a year on-ground before making its first investment two years ago. Last year, it invested in learning assessment company Educational Initiatives and digital photoprinting company Canvera Digital Technologies...

More>>

'We expect to do more deals this year': ePlanet Ventures - Outlook for 09 Part V

Posted by Namitha Jagadeesh at 
ePlanet Ventures began as an affiliate fund with venture firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson and earned a name for itself with big-ticket investments such as Internet telephony company Skype, Inc and Chinese search engine Baidu.com Inc. The firm, which broke away from DFJ in 2006, invests in India out of a global fund. Last year, it made only one investment...

More>>

'Deals will take longer to close': KPCB & Sherpalo Ventures - Outlook for 09 Part IV

Posted by Namitha Jagadeesh at 
Venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy invests in India for a partnership of two venture firms - Silicon Valley biggie Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Ram Shriram's Sherpalo Ventures. In 2008, the partnership made two new investments - mobile advertising firm mKhoj, online photoprinting company ZoomIn - and participated in follow-on rounds in...

More>>

'Almost all sectors will see revenue stress': Sequoia Capital India - Outlook for 09 Part III

Posted by Namitha Jagadeesh at 
Venture capital firm Sequoia Capital rang alarm bells in the US Silicon Valley last October with the now infamous ‘R.I.P Good Times' presentation it made to portfolio companies in an emergency meeting. Its India entity, which invests from a dedicated pool of capital, repeated the message to portfolio companies here a few weeks later. KP Balaraj...

More>>

‘Lack of product innovation disappointing’: DFJ – Outlook for 09 Part II

Posted by Namitha Jagadeesh at 
Venture firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson began 2008 leading an $18.5 million third round in travel portal Cleartrip , and followed it up with five other deals, including e-waste management company Attero Recycling and online education company Catura Systems . The firm, which set up India office in late 2007 with a $100 million allocation, expanded its early...

More>>

'It's a forest fire': Norwest Venture Partners - Outlook for 09 Part I

Posted by Namitha Jagadeesh at 
Capital efficiency will be the new mantra for venture capitalists this year. Yesterday, we carried in the paper the overall outlook for Indian venture capital in 2009 . Starting today, we bring you a ten-part series of interviews with VCs investing in India, their individual investment thesis for 2009, sectors of interest and what they look for in a...

More>>

TechTribe model not validated, says investor Canaan Partners

Posted by Namitha Jagadeesh at 
The businessmodel of online job referral company techTribe Networks, Inc isn't working out, says its investor Canaan Partners . techTribe was launched in late 2006 as a professional networking site, with a referral recruitment model that asked users to refer candidates for jobs and win cash incentives if the candidate was successfully hired. It...

More>>

Microsoft India launches BizSpark for startups

Posted by Deepti Chaudhary at 
In its bid to woo startups in India, Microsoft Corp (India) Pvt Ltd . has launched Microsoft BizSpark - a program designed to provide free access to Microsoft’s professional software. Under the initiative, BizSpark will offer access to the company’s current development tools, platform technologies as well as production licenses at no cost. “The initiative...

More>>

Leander Sport raises fund from angel investors

Posted by Deepti Chaudhary at 
Leander Sport Pvt. Ltd., a sports management and marketing company promoted by tennis player Leander Paes, has raised an undisclosed amount in its first round of funding from angel investors. Bangalore-based investment banker Viedea Capital Advisors was the advisor to the deal. “We expect to do a larger institutional fund raise for the company in 8...

More>>

More tips for entrepreneurs in a downturn

Posted by Namitha Jagadeesh at 
In today's Mint, we listed ‘ Ten tips for entrepreneurs to combat the downturn' . Expanding on the subject, here are some more thoughts and suggestions entrepreneurs and venture capitalists shared with us: Focus on existing customers : "Do not spend on acquiring new customers, but on breaking even, with the cash on hand currently. Margins...

More>>

Updated: HeadStart, Proto et al - It's show(case) time, folks

Posted by Namitha Jagadeesh at 
Updated: MoDemo has been cancelled for lack of entries, IIM-A plans to have a showcase in February. Here's a welcome break from all the recession news. The season of start-up showcases has begun again. Nominations are now open for Proto.in and MoDemo , while the nomination process has come to a close with two others - HeadStart and the Tata-NEN...

More>>

No pressure to exit: Mayfield Fund's Vikram Godse

Posted by Namitha Jagadeesh at 
Amidst a growing sense of gloom in the equity markets, venture capital firm Mayfield Fund closed its first India-dedicated fund of $110 million yesterday, barely three months after it closed a $395 million fund in the US. Mayfield is the second venture firm to raise an India fund since the market meltdown in September, following Accel India, which closed...

More>>

Epiphany Ventures to fund early, growth stage firms

Posted by Deepti Chaudhary at 
Investment thesis changed for Gaurav Saraf, the latest entrant in the VC investors’ bandwagon, even before he could get started. Saraf recently launched Epiphany Ventures ( contact@epiphanyventures.in , www.epiphanyventures.in ), a Mumbai-based sector agnostic $25 million fund, with the idea of backing early stage firms. Within a few days, the firm...

More>>

Mumbai terrorist attack: VCs in south Bombay unhurt, AVCJ postpones annual conference

Posted by Namitha Jagadeesh at 
Encounters are on at the Taj Mahal hotel and Nariman House as I write this, while the Trident and Oberoi have been evacuated. The Trident is home to global venture funds such as Norwest Venture Partners, which set up India office last September, Battery Ventures, which set up office this year and IDG Ventures India, which initially had only a Bangalore...

More>>

Start-up funding may get hit at root, as endowments suffer

Posted by Namitha Jagadeesh at 
Start-up funding may now be hit at the root source of capital, as US university endowments, which contribute significantly to the pool of money venture capitalists raise, suffer. Universities are looking to sell off parts of their equity portfolio privately, as their investments through endowments take a hit from the market, reports The New York Times...

More>>

More Posts Next page »