Dell Foundation to invest $50m in Indian start-ups

The move represents an expansion of focus for the US-based philanthropic organization, which typically makes direct investments in education, skills development and financial inclusion initiatives.

"A large part of the $50 million will go towards [funding] start-ups, and this is also because, while we are an extremely active impact investor, we are increasingly finding that the venture capital space is struggling to get money, and ventures in areas of our interest, are even more starved," Debasish Mitter, MSDF's director for India told The Economic Times. "We feel there is a tremendous fit between a venture philanthropist approach to seed funding, and what the space needs."

MSDF's previous support for early-stage ventures in India has included participation in an INR350 million ($5.5 million) round for Micro Housing Finance Corporation and in an INR280 million investment for IntelleGrow, a venture debt provider for small to medium sized enterprises. 

MSDF has also invested in India via three funds, including vehicles managed by Menterra Venture Advisors, the foundation's own India Educational Investment Fund and Unitus Seed Fund. The foundation and Unitus jointly invested in Ujjivan Financial Services, a group that offers loans for economically active Indians in poverty.

Momentum for India's start-up ecosystem has otherwise been driven by a number of promising signals from the government, including a pledge to launch an INR100 billion VC fund-of-funds. AVCJ Research shows that early-stage venture investment in the country improved markedly during 2015, with about $1.7 billion deployed across 214 disclosed deals. This compares to $495 million across 122 disclosed deals in 2014.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Venture
• Early-stage
• India