SUMMARY
The Neon fund aims to help the startups reach the $10 Mn mark in annual revenue in under 5 years
Neon will also extend expertise to its portfolio startups to ensure their visibility and stability in the market
Prior to this, 100x Entrepreneur hosts launched $10 Mn 100x Entrepreneur fund, which has invested in over 40 B2B startups till date
Hosts of the 100x Entrepreneur podcast, titled the Neon Show, have launched a new $25 Mn fund, the Neon show, to invest in B2B SaaS startups.
In a statement, the fund said it aims to help the startups reach the $10 Mn mark in annual revenue in under 5 years.
In addition to providing capital, Neon will also extend expertise to its portfolio startups to ensure their visibility and stability in the market.
Prior to this, the podcasters – Siddhartha Ahluwalia and Nansi Mishra – launched 100x Entrepreneur, a $10 Mn fund, aimed at supporting Indian B2B startups. The fund has so far invested in over 40 B2B SaaS startups. It counts Airmeet, Astra Security, CloudSek, InFeedo, KNOW app, Profit.co, Phyllo and SpotDraft among its portfolio companies.
The fund claims that its portfolio startups have witnessed a 7X increase in revenue and a 400% increase in valuation within two years of investment.
Commenting on the launch of Neon, founding partner Ahluwalia said, “Neon is not merely an investment vehicle, but a lighthouse and a growth catalyst for early stage B2B SaaS startups,”
Neon will arm them with the strategic and operational support necessary to scale rapidly and efficiently, he added.
Neon has roped in Blume Founders Fund, Sandeep Singhal of Nexus Venture Partners, and SaaS founders like Pallav Nadhani (Fusion Charts), Varun Shoor (Kayako), Paras Chopra (Wingify), Kiran Darisi (ex-Freshworks), and Kshitij Jain (Joveo, Mobolt) as limited partners.
The development comes at a time when despite the funding winter, funds worth $4 Bn have been launched so far in 2023 for the Indian startup ecosystem.
Last week, Gruhas and the Collective Artists Network announced partnership to launch a startup fund to invest in consumer-facing brands and products.
Last month, Good Capital, which focuses on early stage startups, also announced its second fund with a target corpus of $50 Mn and a greenshoe option of $25 Mn.
Even as investors continue to accumulate dry powder, there seems to be no end to the funding winter. As per an Inc42 report, the funding raised by Indian startups declined 72% year-on-year (YoY) to $5.4 Bn in the first half of 2023.
