Top 15 Active VC Firms in India

ACTIVE VENTURE CAPITAL FIRMS INVESTING IN INDIAN STARTUPS

India is emerging as one of the largest startup ecosystems in the world. The business community across the globe appreciates India for a thriving startup ecosystem. Investors from all over the world are always hunting for Indian Startups as they see a tremendous growth opportunity here.

The significant hurdle, even for the brilliant startup idea, is the lack of funds. Therefore we have seen most of the successful startups facing curveballs in the initial stages.

Funding is a must for the smooth running and growth of any startup at every stage. Lack of funds is the reason many people are hesitant to start a new business. However, the millennial and graduates from top engineering, management, and other institutes with innovative ideas are inspiring many others.

Earlier bootstrapping and bank loans were the only forms of funding for startups and small businesses. With the advent of angel investors and VC firms in India startup ecosystem in India is flourishing. The investing firms are playing an essential role in the nurturing and growth of startups in India.

VC firms have funded Oyo Rooms, Flipkart, Bigbasket, Just Dial, Ola, and hundreds of other startups in India.

Here is the list of 15 Top VC firms operating in India.

If you are a new Startup or if you are planning to start a new business and looking for seed funding, then you must know these companies.

Sequoia Capital India

Sequoia Capital India is an affiliation of a US-based VC firm, Sequoia Capital. The VC firm is known to invest in innovative ideas in various fields. Sequoia funds the promising and daring startups at the early, seed, and also in the growth stage with a fixed investment structure for each of these stages.

Main Investment Domains: Energy, Mobile, Healthcare, Consumer Internet, Financial and Technology Startups

Startups Funded: BankBazaar, Dehaat, Grofers, JustDial, Zomato, Practo, Groupon, etc.

https://www.sequoiacap.com/

Nexus Venture Partners

Nexus Venture Partners is one of the top VC firms in India. It partners with exceptional entrepreneurs in the US and India.


The firm primarily invests early in the life of the company. The investment size ranges from USD 500K to 10 million in early-growth stage companies.

Main Investment Domains: Data Security, Mobile, Infrastructure, Bio Data Analytics, Agribusiness, Consumer and Business Services

Startups Funded: Zolostays, Craftsvilla, Unacademy, Snapdeal, Shopclues, etc.

https://nexusvp.com/

Chiratae Ventures

Chiratae Ventures India Advisors (Formerly IDG Ventures India Advisors) is a leading India-focused technology venture capital fund. The Company offers investment management, advisory, and other related services

The VC firm has over 15 years in startup funding, with a portfolio of over 200 companies in various sectors.

Main Investment Domains: Mobile, Software Products, Engineering-Medical Devices, Technology-based Consumer Services

Startups Funded: Curefit, Fintso, Kristal AI, FirstCry, Yatra, Lenskart, Myntra, Zivame, etc.

 Saif Partners

SAIF Partners is one of the leading private equity firms that is funding startups and companies in Asia. The primary areas of focus include Information Technology, Internet, Mobile, Consumer Products & Services, Healthcare, Cleantech, Education, Modern Agriculture, Financial Services and Manufacturing.

SAIF Partners, founded in 2001, today is one of the successful VC firms in the Asian region. It currently manages over $3.5 billion in capital, with over 100 investments since its inception.

Main Investment Domains: Information Technology, Internet, Mobile, Consumer Products & Services, Healthcare, Cleantech, Education, Modern Agriculture, Financial Services and Manufacturing

Top Startups Funded: Acko, Flipkart, Camp K12, Aye, BookMyShow, Chaayos, ClearTax, Meesho etc.

http://www.saifpartners.com/

Matrix Partners

Matrix Partners is a US-based VC firm that invests in seed and early-stage companies and startups in India and the United States.


Matrix Partners is a US-based venture capital firm that invests in seed and early-stage startups. The firm has the philosophy of being “Founders First” i.e., not only they invest capital in high-growth potential companies but also helps them in valuable domains like hiring, strategic partnerships, etc.

Main Investment Domains: Software, Communications, Semiconductors, Data storage, Internet or Wireless, E-Commerce, enterprise, Fintech and other sectors

Top Startups Funded: Limeroad, Zupee, Camp K12, Housejoy, FIITJEE, Ola, mSwipe etc.

http://www.matrixpartners.in/

Helion Venture Partners

Helion Venture Partners is an early to mid-stage, India focused venture fund. The fund mainly invests in technology-powered and consumer service businesses in sectors like Outsourcing, Internet, Mobile, Technology Products, Retail Services, Healthcare, Education, and Financial Services.
Helion Venture focuses only in India with offices in Bengaluru and Gurgaon.

If it finds any promising idea, Helion can invest up to $10 Million in a company with revenue of less than $10 Million.

Main Investment Domains: Outsourcing, Internet, Mobile, Technology Products, Retail Services, Healthcare, Education and Financial Services

Top Startups Funded: Make My Trip, Red Bus, YepMe, PubMatic, TAXI for Sure, Komli

 http://www.helionvc.com/

Accel Venture

Accel, formerly known as Accel Partners, is an American venture capital firm. It partners with exceptional founders with unique insights, from inception through all phases of growth.

Accel Partners, works with startups in seed, early and growth-stage investments.

Apart from its offices in Palo Alto, California, and San Francisco, California, London, Accel has a presence in developing countries like China and India.

Accel Partners focuses only on internet technology companies. In India, Accel could invest from $500K to $50 Million, given the nature of the company.

Top Investment Domains: Internet technology companies

Top Startups Funded: QTalk, Curefit, Flipkart, BabyOye, Book My Show, Myntra, Common Floor, etc

https://www.accel.com/

Intel Capital India

Intel Capital is a division of Intel Corporation, which is managing corporate venture capital global investment, mergers and acquisitions. Intel Capital makes equity investments in a range of promising and innovative technology startups and companies.

Intel that makes processors also invests in companies with great potential. Intel Capital has invested over $11 billion in over 1000+ companies around 50+ countries.

Intel could give you anything between $1 million to $100 Million depending upon the company. Around the world, it invests up to $500 million per year. It invests in companies like research and development, labs, mobile, digital media, etc.

Main Investment Domains: Technology Startups that are offering hardware, software, and services, targeting artificial intelligence, autonomous technology, data center and cloud, 5G, next-generation computer, semiconductor manufacturing, and other technologies.

Top Startups Funded: IndiaMart, Hungama, PolicyBazaar, SnapDeal etc.

www.intelcapital.com

Blume Ventures

Blume is an early-stage venture fund that backs startups with both funding as well as active mentoring. The primary investment domains of Blume include Indian tech-led startups impacting large markets. It aims to become a leading venture fund in India by nurturing and creating value for India's brightest young startups.

Main Investment Domains: Ventures with a strong tech spine, i.e., businesses backed by code or intellectual property, Tech Startups

Top Startups Funded: Pitshop, Healthassure, Exotel, Printo, Carbon Clean Solutions, etc

https://blume.vc/

Inventus Capital Partners

Inventus Capital Partners is a venture firm that invests in technology-powered companies intending to grow its revenue ten times in just two years. Inventus Capital typically leads the initial round with $1M to $2M and invests up to $5M as businesses grow.

The company is always keen to back entrepreneurs with innovative ideas in the fields like the internet and media, technology, and knowledge-based services to address a variety of attractive end markets in India.

Main Investment Domains: Embedded Software, mobile, E-commerce, financial, internet, and healthcare, etc.

Top Startups Funded: EDreams, Savaari, RedBus, Poshmark, Policy Bazaar etc

https://inventuscap.com/

Bessemer Venture Partners

Bessemer, founded in 1911, is a USA based Venture Firm, which is an early-stage investor in India. Bessemer Venture has invested in dozens of Indian companies, including Bigbasket and Swiggy, Livspace, PharmEasy, and many other startups.

Main Investment Domains: BVP is an active investor in the tech startups community in India.

Top Startups Funded: Swiggy, Livspace, PharmEasy, Bigbasket, Snap Deal, Motilal Oswal etc.

https://www.bvp.com/

Canaan Partners

Canaan Partners, a global venture capital firm, has been investing in India since 2000. An early-stage venture capital firm, Canaan is investing in visionaries with transformative ideas.

The firm could invest $50k to $50 Million depending upon the idea and vision of the company.

Main Investment Domains: Healthcare, Internet Technology & E-Commerce, etc

Top Startups Funded: Bharat Matrimony, Naaptol, Car Trade, UnitedLex, and Loyalty Rewardz

https://www.canaan.com/

Eight Roads 

Eight Roads (Formerly Fidelity Growth Partners India) is a subsidiary of Fidelity International Limited. The Venture Capital Fund is investing in Indian companies since 2008. Eight Roads support innovative and ambitious entrepreneurs to build bold and meaningful businesses.

Main Investment Domains: Healthcare, Real Estate, Consumer and manufacturing companies, etc.

Top Startups Funded: Cipla, Yebhi, BankBazaar, Net Magic etc.

https://eightroads.com/

Norwest Venture Partners

Norwest Venture Partners is a leading Silicon-Valley based venture capital and growth equity investment firm. Norwest has offices in Palo Alto and San Francisco, with subsidiaries in Mumbai and Bengaluru, India and Herzelia, Israel. Since its inception, NVP has invested in more than 600 companies. The VC invests in early to late-stage companies across a wide range of sectors with a focus on consumer, enterprise, and healthcare.

Main Investment Domains: Telecommunications, Internet, Financial, Consumer, Enterprise, and healthcare, etc.

Top Startups Funded: Veritas Finance, Swiggy, Indus Ind, Komli, etc.

https://www.nvp.com/

India Angel Network

Indian Angel Network (IAN) is a Venture Capital Firm formed by primarily Indian angel investors to fund early-stage startups. The company has started international operations and has set up an office in London. The members of the Network are leaders in the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem as they have had vast operational experience as CEOs or a background of creating new and successful ventures. The members include Ajai Chowdhry, Rajan Anandan, and Anand Ladsairya.

Main Investment Domains - Education, Healthcare, QSR, E-Commerce, Gaming, Semiconductor, Robotics, Manufacturing, etc

Top Startups Funded: PregBuddy and SuperProfs Pretty Secrets, Stayzilla, Box 8, Web Engage etc

https://www.indianangelnetwork.com/

The Startups and companies should also understand that getting funds from VC firms is not an easy job. Therefore, before you approach them for funds, make sure that you have a business plan and a promising idea that you can present before them with confidence. In addition, you need to do your homework well and present a convincing case for funding requirements.


Want to get startup funding but don't know how? You can get in touch us if you need any assistance in connecting with the VC firms. 

Zomato buys Grofers

Recently, The Brand Global team has reported that Zomato and Grofers would be delivering essential items in a partnership during the national lockdown. Our team also notified that the online companies are hiring thousands of people to cater to the spike in demand amid lockdown.

The ET has reported now that the food delivery platform Zomato is in talks to buy the Softbank backed online grocery startup, Grofers.


The merger between the two entities will be a significant consolidation move in India’s consumer internet sector. The all-stock deal is expected to close at approximately $750M. 

SoftBank, the Japanese Vision Fund, which has the largest stake in Grofers, may further invest around $100-200 million in the merged entity.

Uber, in which SoftBank has invested considerable amount had in February, sold its India food delivery business UberEats to Zomato.

In just a few months, this would be another significant acquisition by Zomato after Uber eats
In January this year, Zomato announced that it had secured $150M in fresh funding from Ant Financial, which is a subsidiary of Chinese firm Alibaba.

Zomato is currently valued at around $3.2 billion, while Grofers was at $650M in December 2019.

Zomato - Indian restaurant aggregator and food delivery startup

Founders - Deepinder Goyal, Pankaj Chaddah
Founding Year – 2008
Location - DLF Phase V, Gurugram, India
Website - https://www.zomato.com/ncr

Grofers - Indian online grocery delivery service

Founders – Albinder Dhindsa, Saurabh Kumar
Founding Year – 2013
Location – Gurugram
Website - https://grofers.com/


In the Indian Online Grocery segment, the merged entity is going to give a fierce competition to BigBasket, which is one of the most prominent players in this segment. BigBasket had earlier explored the possibility of a potential merger with Grofers, but the talks failed. Even Amazon held some rounds of negotiations with BigBasket, but that could not materialize.

Sequoia India's Accelerator Programme Surge 03 chose 7 Indian Startups

SEQUOIA India picked 15 early-stage startups from South-east Asia and India for its third Surge Cohort on April 27, 2020. Surge’s third cohort kicked off on April 13 and the 16-week long program will last up to August. Amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, there is a travel ban and other restrictions due to lockdown. And hence it is a complete virtual event and happening remotely via video conferencing.

https://twitter.com/_surgeahead/status/1254614397936254977?s=20

Surge is Sequoia Capital's startup accelerator programme for early-stage startups in India and Southeast Asia. Surge 3 is hosting startups from India, Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
This time the cohort consists of startups from different domains including software-as-a-service (SaaS), developer tools, consumer internet, fitness, F&B, education, and health among others. Moreover, almost one-third of the startups have at least one female founder.

These startups are Atlan, BukuKas, CoLearn, Convosight, DrinkPrime, Fittr, Hangry, Last9, Pencil, Pentester Academy, Procol, Thuocsi, Togerhall, and Tinvio (with one startup currently in stealth mode).


The seven Indian startups in the third cohort are Atlan, Fittr, DrinkPrime, Procol, Last9, Convosight, and CoLearn.

Meet the Startups selected in Third Surge Cohort

CoLearn

Founders: Abhay Saboo and Marc Irawan
Launched: January 2020
Co-investors: AC Ventures and Alpha JWC Ventures
CoLearn is an ed-tech platform that enables tuition centres and tutors to create online learning experiences for their students.

ConvoSight

Founders: Tamanna Dhamija, Tarun Dhamija, and Kartik Bansal
Launched: October 2019
Co-investor: IvyCap Ventures
Convosight is a community management platform that uses data analytics and machine learning to help admins and brands create, moderate, grow, and leverage communities meaningfully.

DrinkPrime

Founders: Manas Ranjan Hota and Vijender Reddy
Launched: March 2016
Co-investors: Angel investors
DrinkPrime’s mission is to bring clean, affordable drinking water to India, where millions of people cannot access potable water. The startup leverages the internet of things and a seven-stage filtration process to produce clean drinking water from the tap in any consumer’s home.

Procol

Founders: Gaurav Baheti and Sumit Mendiratta
Launched: October 2018
Co-investors: Beenext and Blume Ventures
Procol is a digital procurement platform that helps companies digitize their buying processes for better transparency, traceability, and cost savings.

Last9

Founders: Nishant Modak and Piyush Verma
Launched: January 2020
Co-investors: Better Capital and angel investors
Last9 is a site reliability engineering platform that makes running systems at scale easy. It is currently deployed in closed beta at some of the largest websites in India and Southeast Asia.

Atlan

Founders: Prukalpa Sankar and Varun Banka
Launched: July 2019
Co-investor: Waterbridge Ventures
Atlan is building a home for data teams by bringing together diverse people, tools, and data. It allows various team members to collaborate while using the tools they prefer to work with, such as a business user on Excel, an analyst on SQL, and a team of engineers on Python, making data science significantly more accessible to the organization.

Fittr

Founders: Jitendra Chouksey, Sonal Singh, Jyoti Dabas, Bala Krishna Reddy, and Rohit Chattopadhyay
Launched: March 2019
Co-investor: Better Capital

Fittr is an online fitness app that offers its community free access to diet and training tools provided by fitness experts and enthusiasts.

BukuKas

Founders: Krishnan Menon and Lorenzo Peracchione
Launched: December 2019
Co-investors: Credit Saison, Hustle Fund, Whiteboard Capital, 500 Startups, and angel investors
BukuKas helps owners of Indonesian micro, small, and medium enterprises understand and manage their financial flows more effectively with an easy-to-use digital ledger they can download on their smartphones.

Hangry

Founders: Abraham Viktor, Andreas Resha, and Robin Tan
Launched: November 2019
Co-investor: Alpha JWC Ventures
Hangry is a cloud kitchen that serves up multiple in-house restaurant brands for online orders and delivery. By using a common kitchen with shared staff and resources, Hangry’s asset-light model allows it to produce quality food at affordable prices for Indonesia’s fast-growing, mobile-first population.

Pencil

Founders: Will Hanschell and Sumukh Avadhani
 Launched: May 2019
 Co-investors: SG Innovate, Wavemaker Partners, and an angel investor
Pencil brings the scale of algorithms to the creative process by generating ads that are predicted to work. It is the first generative creative platform for performance advertising teams in brands and agencies.

Pentester Academy

Founder: Vivek Ramachandran
 Launched: March 2019
Pentester Academy trains security professionals on the art and science of defeating hackers and making the internet safer. It does this by replacing theory classes with practical experiences that are both fun and edifying.

Thuocsi

Founders: Nguyen Huu Minh Hoang, Nguyen Xuan Hiep, and Vuong Dinh Vu
Launched: November 2017
Co-investors: Cocoon Capital and Genesia Ventures
Thuocsi is an online business-to-business marketplace for pharmaceutical, health, and personal care needs. It was launched in Ho Chi Minh City in 2018 by Singapore-based health tech firm BuyMed to simplify Vietnam’s healthcare distribution process.

Tigerhall

Founder: Nellie Wartoft
Launched: March 2019
Co-investors: Taurus Ventures, XA Network (formerly Xoogler Angel Network), and angel investors
Tigerhall is a mobile learning platform that aims to help professionals achieve their career and life goals by learning directly from Asia’s most successful people.

Tinvio

Founder: Ajay Gopal
Launched: July 2019
Co-investors: Global Founders Capital and Partech Partners
Tinvio is a communication and commerce platform built around the idea that merchants and suppliers should be able to work smarter together.

According to Surge “Eighty per cent of Surge 03 startups are coming onboard with institutional co-investors, and almost half have Angel co-investors, too. Collectively, this cohort has raised over $39 million in their Surge rounds. (What’s more, Surge 01 and 02 startups have already raised USD 250M+ after completing Surge, in subsequent financing rounds).”

Sequoia Capital launched its First Cohort in March 2019 with 17 startups. In the second surge cohort in October 2019, it picked 20 startups.

Sequoia has picked up 15 startups in the third cohort from the community which has grown to over 110 founders with 52 startups based in six countries. Out of the 52 startups, 27 are from India.
Above all, the announcement of 15 startups is good news at this time of the Corona Crisis when the economy is down and startups are uncertain about the future.


The applications for Surge 04 from September 2020 to January 2021 are also open now.

Worried Startups Seek Bailout Package and Exemption from FDI Curbs

The Startup India Association or (SIA) has requested the government to exempt startups from the foreign direct investment curbs placed on investors from neighbouring nations. SIA is an advocacy group representing the Indian startup community ecosystem. China is one of the neighbouring nations which has been investing in the Indian for many years now.

This comes after India tweaked its FDI policy after China’s central bank raised an equity stake in HDFC above 1 per cent. The change in policy is aimed at curbing opportunistic takeovers of Indian firms amid the COVID-19 crisis.

Therefore, India made some changes to keep an eye on investments from neighbouring countries including China. According to the new policy, any investment from neighbouring countries, including China, will now need prior government approval.

China's VC Investments in Indian Startups

The already struggling Indian Startups amid Covid-19 are worried about the outcome after this change in the policy. SIA, in a letter to commerce minister Piyush Goyal, said that foreign investors have put in around $82.1 billion into the Indian startup ecosystem in the last five years. Chinese investors alone have contributed to the tune of over $8 billion.

The concern of the SIA is genuine as the Chinese venture funds are one of the biggest backers of Indian technology startups. It may be noted that the Chinese Ventures like Alibaba, Tencent, Fosun RZ Capital, Shunwei Capital, and many others have backed the Indian companies. Some of them include the successful startups like Paytm, Zomato, Ola, Byju’s, OYO, Delhivery, Swiggy, Rivigo, Ixigio. There are other emerging startups such as Rapido, ShareChat, Trell, LetsTransport and more funded by Chinese VC.

Besides urging the government to ease the FDI norms, the SIA also requested the Minister and DPIIT for a bailout package. The association urged them to set-up a Rs 25,000 crore Startup India Fund. It will help the “running out of cash” startups as the VC funding have also dried up during Corona pandemic.


Furthermore, SIA also warned the government that without any support, startups may wind up and may also cut employee numbers. As a result thousands of people may lose jobs in India.

Start-Up India – STARTUPS – Heads-up for mid-sized or small enterprises with stagnant or no growth??

Ever wondered a new idea culminating into a business, successful implementation of the idea and finally a company doing a business of Rupees 200-300 million in a short span of 2 years? Yes this is happening all around and all across India now with not only young but also experienced professionals venturing into Start Ups. We hear the success stories of Flipkart, Snapdeal, and Housing.com and more recently about OYO rooms, Hiree.com. These are only very few of the success stories which people know and are aware of but there are hundreds and thousands others who are doing their job successfully and quietly and not only once but twice or thrice have been successful with Startups. Their modus operandi is very simple, come up with a brilliant idea, start that business with great zeal and passion, establish the business in 2-3 years, make it a 100 million, 200 million or 500 million entity and sell it to the big player.

There are hundreds and thousands of other Start-up players running their business successfully and side-lining so many old mid-sized and small companies who are not able to match with today’s pace.

I am very surprised and wonder that how could they do it. When these people have nothing in terms of finances and could establish an empire of millions in 2-3 years why most of the old companies who have a financial backup can’t do the same. Why a company which is 20, 30 or 40 years old still not been able to touch the magic figure of Rupees 1 Billion. Leave apart 1 billion many such companies are still complacent and happy with revenue of rupees 100- 300 million.

What can be the reason that they are not able to make it big in this huge market which has an enormous potential and scope?

Is this due to the market they are in to or is it due to lack of ideas?

Is it due to lack of clear vision of management or is it due to lack of motivation within the employees?

Is it due to the same old management thought and processes or is it due to non-availability of right staff within the organization?

Is it due to lack of passion and enthusiasm of management or is it due to lack of productivity within the employees?

Is it due to reluctance in accepting new challenges or lack of clear directions of management or is it due to lack of skilled employees?

Is it due to lack of organized structure or is it due to lack of effective internal control of management?

There may be N number of reasons but yes these companies now need to wake up and need to match with the pace in order to survive. Future of the employees of these companies is also associated with their growth and future. The new mantra of Start-up India, Stand-up India by the present government has boosted the morale of many IDEAPREUNEURS and with the assistance from the government we will see more and more success stories in the coming months and years.

It is not very far when it will be very difficult for these midsized and small companies, in this market for so many decades to match the pace of this new India. This is the final Heads-up for these organizations and now if they don’t take corrective measures the game will be over for most of them leaving them red-faced and hundreds and thousands of their employees unemployed

Is it necessary that you need to be an IIT or IIM for making it big in the Start Up business?

In my opinion such companies which have not grown beyond certain revenue and still struggling to make rupees 100-200 million which they were making 5-10 years ago need to seriously think about their business plans. Why can’t they have the passion and enthusiasm of a Start-Up Entrepreneur and come up with a different idea? The good part is that unlike the Start-Up Entrepreneur who has taken a risk and invested his entire savings on his business, these companies have a financial backup and a setup which can be used to their advantage. The need of the hour is to revisit and rethink the strategies and they should do away with the outdated structure and policies forthwith.

Moreover these companies also need to identify the talent within the organization, employees who are passionate, ideapreneurs and who can think out of the box to assist the organization. Make them a shareholder of the company; give them more responsibilities and accountability. The important question here is how you will identify such talent. Take suggestions from everyone no matter which role he is in. An employee at the senior position may or may not have an idea or that calibre in this day and age, but a junior employee who is full of passion may come up with an excellent idea. Don’t rely only on the top posts. It is a very common practice in such companies which I am talking about. The management need to come out of this hierarchical culture so prevalent in many companies who have not make it big even after in the business for over 20, 30, 40 years. The culture must change now as you cannot survive with a standard basic phone in today’s age of smart phones.

According to NASSCOM India will have a large number of super successful small companies (Start-ups), as against the global trend of having a small number of mega successful companies that command high valuations.

This is a Food for thought for such companies, have a SWOT analysis and get into the act right now otherwise it will be too late

Contributed by Rajesh Rana in Linkedin