Canada-based Ryerson Futures and, Chokhani Group launch $15 Million fund for Indian tech startups
Ryerson Futures Inc and Angel investor duo, Anil Chokhani and Krishna Chokhani, launched an early stage focused fund of up to USD $15 Million (Rs. 82.5crores ) to invest in 10-15 start-ups every year. The fund will seek to invest in Zone Startup India accelerated early stage businesses. The amount for each startup will be between $50,000 (Rs. 27,50,000) and $500,000 (Rs. 2,75,00,000 ).
Anil Chokhani says “We have been active making early stage investments, and have seen tremendous interest in the market to also take part as well. Partnering with an existing accelerator allows us to leverage the benefits of a formalized program.”
Since Feb 2014, Zone Startups India has incubated 38 startups in diverse sectors. Ranging from data analytics, mobility, e-commerce, education, hardware, technology, human computing interface, mobile payments to healthcare. The accelerator accommodates up to 60 startups per annum.
At the recent guest post on YourStory.com, Mumbai based accelerator Zone Startps India announced they have interviewed over 130 startups over a period of 9 months. Out of which 38 are already onborded to the program. Ajay Ramasubramaniam, director (Business Development) said “We are a revolving program i.e, there is no fixed cohort start-date or graduation day, and we have a regular inflow of startups through various approaches. We focus on industry connect and customer acquisition. While 6 of them have ceased to exist due to several reasons – including pivots, mergers, founder breakups; around 20+ startups have been with us for at least 6 months.”
At present Zone Startups India portfolio startups includes Focus Analytics, Bug Clipper, Baby Chakra, Pykih, FOSengage, DrugIO, Intugine Technologies, ArtZolo, Underdogs Gaming Studio, BOOKstreet to name a few.
The fund aims to make investments in scalable technology startups who are part of the Zone Startups India accelerator, and also will seek to find new startups to bring in to the program. The fund will be raising capital from both corporates and other high net worth individuals.
“We are seeing many great startups come through Zone Startups India. Launching a fund to help advance these startups is a logical next step now that we have been able to establish a strong network in India with our partners,” says Matt Saunders, President of Ryerson Futures Inc. “Teaming up with Anil and Kirshna Chockhani increases the size of our network and amount of capital that we can invest to scale innovative technology companies.”
Zone Startup India is non-equity program for the 4-months period, during which they offer physical space and several value added services to the startups, such as dedicated mentor-pool, business development support, industry connect program, investor access, technology support. Check out What does an accelerator expect of a startup: a handy list of guidelines
Websites: Ryerson Futures, Zone India Startups
