US-Based VC March Capital Partners To Focus On Indian Startups

As the Indian tech startups have been hitting the bullseye for the past few years, California-based VC firm March Capital Partners is now considering to set up an India office and team to source, identify and close its investments in India. The sector and stage agnostic VC will close its next set of investments in India within next few months, reports ET.

March Capital Partners

Founded by Jim Armstrong, Sumant Mandal, Gregory Milken and Jamie Montgomery in 2014, March Capital Partners is one of the largest global funds in Southern California.  In addition to cofounding March Capital Partners, Sumant has also cofounded two technology incubators in the San Francisco Bay area, The Hive and The Fabric. March Capital Partners is stage agnostic, and has invested in both early and late-stage tech startups, primarily in big data analytics, AI, consumer market, IoT, blockchain, P2P networks, mobile, enterprise, infrastructure, gaming, marketplace innovation, digital media, and healthcare IT.

Having raised fund I with a corpus of  $240 Mn in 2016, March Capital Partners had sought to raise $150 Mn for its second fund. The firm typically invests between $1 Mn to $20 Mn in the startups.

March Capital Ventures has backed leading payment gateway platforms such as PayPal and BillDesk. The VC has also made undisclosed late-stage investments in cybersecurity startup CrowdStrike and online automobile marketplace CarTrade.

March Capital Partners: Focusing On Indian Tech Startups

March Capital Partners is looking forward to invest in tech startups pertaining to data science, machine learning (ML), and artificial intelligence (AI). The VC is now focusing on Indian startups.

Speaking to ET, Sumant Mandal, MD at March Capital Partners stated, “We have liked the companies that can create efficiencies in very large markets without the need for owning their inventory or warehouses… We’re looking at some very interesting opportunities, and are open to both, enterprise and consumer-facing businesses.”

On India investments, Sumant said, “There are very exciting opportunities coming out of India. India has very strong talent within these spaces. That’s going to be very important areas for us to look at.”

India investments might need a regular and close eye to Indian tech startups. “We will look at that… It’s about finding the right people and working with them… As we develop our portfolio in the country, we will definitely look to have people on the ground,” added Mandal.

Along with SoftBank and its Vision Fund, India is now home to a number of leading global late-stage VC firms such as Temasek Holdings, DST Global, Tybourne Capital, FTV Capital, Generic Atlantic and many more. Along with Temasek Holdings, March Capital Partners had co-led a $145 Mn Series E funding round in online automobile trading startup CarTrade, last year. As March Capital Ventures has already lost a number of deals in the past, a ground team in India will help the VC expand their portfolio, and not anti-portfolio!