SAIF principals to form India early-stage fund

The new fund, which has not been named, will invest in 15-20 start-ups per year, committing about $500,000 each time, according to The Economic Times. Several entrepreneurs have made informal commitments totaling about $5 million; the fund will begin formal fundraising next month. Its size has not yet been announced.

Singhal and Jain were specialists in seed capital at SAIF, working together on deals involving the education, internet and mobile sectors. The two plan to leave by the end of this month, and will transfer their board seats at SAIF to other executives.

The move was motivated by the perception that, given the rapid growth of India's e-commerce and tech markets, a fund specializing in these sectors would be better placed to meet the needs of start-ups than a large player like SAIF.

"The need and capability required at pre-series A stage, before the first major institutional funding, are different from a larger fund," said Singhal.

While at SAIF, Singhal and Jain contributed to the firm's investments in several start-ups, including online education firm Toppr, which received a $2 million commitment from SAIF and Helion Ventures in 2014; services marketplace UrbanClap, for which SAIF participated in a $1.6 million seed round and a $10 million follow-on round, both last year; and children's products retailer Firstcry.

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• Topics
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