India’s GHV Accelerator partners with Japanese VCs to launch US$52M startup fund
The fund will look to invest in 10-15 startups in the health-tech, fintech, Internet of Things, consumer-tech and agri-tech sectors
(L-R) Masataka Matsumoto (WiL), Vikram Upadhyaya (GHV), Makoto Takano (MT Partners)
Gurgaon-based GHV Accelerator has joined hands with Japanese VC firms World Innovation Labs (WiL) and MT Partners to launch a INR 350 crore (US$52.2 million) fund for Indian startups.
The fund will look to invest in 10-15 startups operating in the health-tech, fintech, Internet of Things, consumer-tech and agri-tech sectors, a spokesperson told e27.
The average ticket size will be in the range of US$2 million to US$5 million.
The fund will be managed by General Partner Vikram Upadhyaya, Founder and Chief Mentor at GHV.
Separately, GHV has announced that Makoto Takano, former President of PIMCO, has joined the accelerator as a Board member.
Takano is the Founder of MT Partners, whose core area of focus is extensive exposure in investing and management operation of ventures with future success potential. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Japan.
Takano has an in-depth understanding of the startup world and is the Managing Director of Genuine Startups, which manages a VC fund called the Genuine Fund. “India is a bullish economy and I am excited to be a part of many success stories from India, that we intend to create over time,” he said.
WiL is a VC fund based out of Japan and Silicon Valley with US$400 million, typically invests US$5-30 million in early as well as growth-stage technology and Internet startups. The VC firm will continue to handhold and support the growth and expansion of GHV startups in global markets, targeting Japan and the US, to help them scale and go global.
“India today looks like what China was 10 years back and growth here will be much stronger in the next few years. We would like to fund a couple of companies from GHV if there is a strong connection to Silicon Valley or Japan. If we see benefits of cross-border mentorship and regular dialogue, the next step will be to set up a fund or facility which we can jointly run to continue our relationship,” said Gen Isayama, Co-founder and CEO of WiL.
GHV funds and mentor startups between the incubation and venture capital stages, and provides them a sustainability funding of up to US$ 300,000. GHV’s portfolio companies include MyTaxiindia, PickMyLaundry, Adurcup, PindropMusic, Istyleyou, Fitmein, Roadgods, Foodport and CarPM.
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