Draper Venture Syndicate Enters India To Rev Up Seed-Stage Funding

Singapore-based Draper Startup House has launched the Draper Venture Syndicate Network, a seed-stage investment syndicate platform for Indian startups.

Draper Startup House, which runs a corporate and business-oriented hospitality chain, aims to facilitate seed and angel investments across sectors by leveraging its global network of investors. The company, which has onboarded 25 investors and 37 startups so far, is also in talks to collaborate with investment firms such as Qualcomm Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners, Inventus Venture Partners and Axilor Ventures in India.

“Our partners include accelerators, incubators, angels, VCs, PEs, niche investment firms, alternative debt firms, consulting firms and corporate investment arms who are interested in various opportunities – not limiting themselves to physical borders,” the company’s official website said.

Shashikiran Rao, cofounder of the Indian and European business at Draper Venture Syndicate Network, told Economic Times that the platform will do matchmaking between startups and investors.

There will also be an option for the investors to shop for other potential investments based on their investment thesis, Rao added. Besides this, it will also give an option to invest through partner funds or San Francisco-based Draper University Fund.

The investment syndicate platform also clarified that it will take in applications from early-stage startups in both pre-revenue and post-revenue stages. Draper Startup House also has two different ventures, seed-stage Draper Associates and seed-to-growth stage Draper Venture Network, to invest in startups. These are also a part of Draper University.

Draper Venture Network’s Existing Presence in India

In 2017,  Draper Venture Network had also partnered with India-based early-stage fund Blume Venture. Under this partnership, the duo would have looked at deals involving post-seed through Series B-stage companies. With this partnership, Blume Ventures’ cofounder Sanjay Nath also became the board member of Draper Venture Network.

Nath had highlighted that the partnership would allow its portfolio companies to get access to international markets, where Draper Venture Network comes into play. He also believes that the partnership would also allow its portfolio companies to tap on global talent, customers, clients and investment opportunities.

Notably, Blume Ventures has $150 Mn capital under management and has backed over 130 startups in India. Some of its notable investments in India include Dunzo, Locus, GreyOrange, Little Black Book, Tricog, Dataweave, and Yulu Bike.

Whereas, Draper Venture Network has over $2 Bn collective assets under management and has launched over 24 funds. The company has invested in over 800 startups across 60 cities. From India, Draper Venture Network’s portfolio includes GreyOrange, Accio, Cashify, Bluestone, Classplus, Frapp, HealthifyMe, Instamojo, Dunzo and more.

Antler Looks To Enter Early-Stage Investment Market Too

Another Singapore-based early-stage venture capital firm Antler has announced its entry into the Indian market last week. Through this, the venture capital firm looks to support Indian entrepreneurs by offering its platform, funding support and global reach.

The firm will start its six-month-long programme in two phases from Bengaluru. The first phase focuses on building a strong team by connecting founders to potential cofounders. The second phase focuses on product development and getting traction, followed by a demo day to raise investments from angel investors, seed investors and venture capitalists.

Antler’s portfolio represents more than 60 nationalities and over 30 industries — agritech, cryptocurrency, cybersecurity, fintech, foodtech, ecommerce, logistics and more. Its portfolio includes proptech startup Allihoop, healthtech startup Caia, fintech startup Savvy and cybersecurity startup Avertro.