Raising funds for your start-up can be an extremely difficult task, specially if you are raising it through angel investors or venture capitalists.
First time founders, often find it difficult to identify the right set of Investors that will make their start-up a huge success in the long run.
We have curated a list of 9 must know investors for founders in India who are looking to raise their first round of Investment.
1. 100x.vc
100x.vc is one of the most popular seed stage Indian Investor who invests an amount of ₹1.25 Crore in the form of iSAFE notes for 15% of the equity at post money valuation of ₹ 8.3 Crores.
They have a simple investment philosophy where they focus on the Founding Team, Market Size, Business Model, MOAT/USP and Internal Conviction of the team.
They are the first Investment firm that has introduced the concept of iSAFE notes in India. You can learn more about iSAFE notes here.
You can apply for their latest class here.
2. Peak XV Partners
Peak XV Partners (formerly known as Sequoia India) is one of the biggest Venture Capital Firm of India and South East Asia that is focused on helping founders build legendary companies.
With a portfolio of legendary start-ups like OLA, BYJUs, OYO, Zomato, and more they invest in both seed and growth stage start-ups with an average cheque size of $2 Million Dollars at Seed Stage through their program called Surge.
According the Rajan Anandan, Managing Director at Peak XV, they invest in founders who think big – very very big. Those who are also humble and incredibly curious.
They look for key traits like ability to learn very quickly, agility, and adaptability. You can apply for Surge here.
3. Accel India
Just like Peak XV, Accel India has been one of the oldest Investors and Venture Capitalists in India. With companies like Cult Fit, Atlassian, Acko, Bluestone, Book my show and more, Accel has established itself as one of the giants in this sector.
Accel invests in both pre-seed, seed and growth stage start-ups where their ideal cheque size ranges between $3 – $5 Million.
They have also launched Accel Atoms, a pre-seed funding program for early stage start-ups in AI and Industry 5.0. It is a hybrid program of 6 months where they invest an amount of $500,000 in start-ups from India, SEA and Middle East.
Also Read: 21 Best Online Business Ideas for 2024
4. Blume Ventures
Blume Ventures are a seed or pre-Series A investors who typically invest with a cheque size ranging between $1.5 – 3 Million Dollars.
At this point in time 60-65% of their investments are inclined towards domestic heavy sectors like healthcare, financial services, commerce and brands, jobs and education, and digital media and gaming whereas the remaining 35-40% is focussed on SaaS, DeepTech and other B2B sectors.
Blume prefers start-ups that have achieved some level of customer validation. You can learn more about their Investment thesis here.
5. Titan Capitals
Founded by Kunal Bahl (Founder of SnapDeal), Titan Capitals is rapidly becoming one of the most popular Venture Capitals amongst GenZ and student entrepreneurs.
With a portfolio that has big names like Ola, Urban Company, Mama Earth, Razorpay and more, they focus on the founding team as their primary assessment.
They conduct chai with titan events where you can pitch to them live. You can connect with them here.
6. Matrix Partner India
Matrix Partner is one of the older Venture Capital Firms of India that was established in India in 2006. They ideally invest from seed to series B in sectors like ConsumerTech, B2B Commerce, Enterprise, Fintech, among others.
Just like Titan Capitals they also focus majorly on the founding team of the start-up and prefer to be the lead investors.
You can submit your idea to Matrix Partners India here or you can drop them a mail as well.
7. Nexus Venture Partners
Nexus Venture Partners are a product first venture partner that believe in investing in founders that are building product first companies.
With a portfolio that contains companies like Postman, Zepto, Delhivery and more, Nexus invests at seed or Series A stage.
They ideally look to invest in enterprise software companies globally and technology-powered businesses within India. The only way to reach out to them is through networking.
8. Grad Capital (Student Investor)
Grad Capital are one of the India’s leading Student Investor where they invest an amount of $40k in Student founded start-ups and then invite them to Bangalore for a 4 week long cohort.
They have 2 types of grants/fellowship under the name of Atomic Fellowship and Feather Grants that helps students with great ideas to build great start-ups.
All those who are school students, college students, dropouts, or graduates (< 2 years after graduation) can apply for the same here.
9. First Cheque
First cheque is aiming to become the Y Combinator of India where they invest an amount of ₹75 Lakhs INR for 5% of the company at pre-seed or seed stage of the company.
They ideally invest at paper-plan, pre-product, MVP and early stages of a venture. They back ambitious founders that are leveraging technology and are building product that have demand in the market.
You can apply to raise funds here.
Conclusion
Raising funds from external investors can be an extremely tedious task and can make or break your entrepreneurial spirit. One should always take caution to decide when they should raise funds for their start-up.
Even after you learn how to raise funds for your start-up, success is not a guarantee as there are many factors that affect the start-up success in your sector.
In any case if you are raising funds from any vc or investor then you should always ensure that the start-up that you are building should have a good market size, demand in market and it should ideally solve a problem in the first place.
Investors invest in start-ups that are scalable and can give them 30-50 times ROI in the long run.
You can always join our start-up community and learn more about business, start-ups, investments and more.
