1Crowd's maiden venture capital fund closes at Rs 23 cr

1Crowd, an Indian early-stage investment firm and startup ecosystem announced the first close of its debut venture capital fund at Rs 23 crore.

The firm began its journey by setting up an equity crowdfunding platform in September 2015, bringing to market a differentiated investment model where it leads every investment and invites investor members on the platform to participate in the investment on the same terms. The firm has completed over 15 investments, including participation in three follow-on rounds for its portfolio companies. These investments are in areas such as FinTech, healthcare, education, enterprise technology and deep technology (including BioTech, NanoTech and CleanTech).

The fund has a target corpus of Rs 75 crore and is positioned to co-invest with the equity crowdfunding platform, effectively anchoring each investment with 30-50 percent of the total funding round. The fund is largely sector agnostic and plans to invest in approximately 20 companies.

While 1Crowd seeks to invest roughly USD 500,000 in first round investments, it will look to increase its stakes in subsequent rounds for some of its investee companies.

"We're delighted with the positive reception from investors. The fund offers investors a unique strategy to optimise capital invested and maximise returns. The fund would invest in tandem with 1Crowd's equity crowdfunding platform, building a diversified portfolio. Fund investors may co-invest via the platform at inception and in subsequent rounds, growing positions in portfolio companies that are successful," said 1Crowd co-founder Anil Gudibande.

1Crowd's investment framework seeks to identify promising early-stage ventures on the cusp of knowledge and technology, backed by high-quality founding teams, regardless of the sector or industry they operate in. The firm has a sharp focus on actively supporting its portfolio companies in the areas of overall strategy, business development, sales and marketing, organisation building and financial management.