Kisho Capital launches rolling fund for early-stage tech startups in India

Delhi-based early-stage venture capital fund Kisho Capital on Wednesday launched a rolling fund that will support about 20 startups annually, investing up to Rs 1 crore in each entity.

"The fund plans to support about 20 startups annually by investing up to Rs 1 crore in each startup under its programme. Kisho Capital's fund model is oriented towards startups in the seed/pre-Series A rounds, which are technologically advanced with initial traction, especially those that use AI and ML for personalisation and automation," a statement said.

Kisho Capital will invest in home automation, healthtech, social community, B2B SaaS, and fintech companies, it added.

A rolling fund is a type of investment vehicle that allows fund managers to share deal flow with fund investors on an annual subscription basis without raising the entire fund money at one go.

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Through the fund, an investor commits to a specific capital that they are willing to deploy, and infuses money in tranches as and when required by the fund.

According to the statement, the rolling fund will give Kisho Capital the flexibility to raise a fraction of the total fund and start investing straight away, with quarterly/annual commitments from the investors.

Founded by seasoned entrepreneurs and investors, Akshay Chhugani and Ankush Nijhawan, Kisho Capital’s goal is to deliver top-quality investment advice to all their investors, with the best-in-class due diligence and access to expertise from some of the best mentors in the Indian startup ecosystem. 

“The whole idea for Kisho Capital was conceptualised as a rolling fund, with investors from few of India’s biggest corporate houses and startups coming together — both financially and strategically — to build the future of Indian startups. Our primary focus is to back early-stage founders who are not only passionate about solving core user issues but also understand the business and scalability,” said Ankush.

Akshay further added, “The opportunity for early-stage investing is still in its nascent stages in India, given the huge youth population and the brilliant mindsets of the entrepreneurs, combined with the neverending on-ground issues. A lot of venture funding is still concentrated in the metro cities such as Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, and Mumbai, however, we have witnessed some very successful startups coming out of Tier-II cities and beyond.”

According to the founders, Kisho Capital is, in a way, a fund by founders for founders, and of founders.

The current mentor board includes Sandeep Dwivedi, COO at InterGlobe Technology Quotient; Sahil Jain, Co-founder at Dineout; Azhar Iqubal, Co-founder at Inshorts; Pushkar Singh, Founder at LetsTransport; Vikas Bagaria, Founder at Pee Safe; and the advisory board of Gaurav Bhatanagar, Ishpreet Gandhi, and Tripti Singhal.