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With an aim to improve the Innovation Quotient in India, Mumbai-based local seed investment platform, Venture Catalysts, has partnered with global incubator and seed fund Plug & Play International, to help Indian startups get exposure to Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and investors.
The development will help startups for mentorship and potential funding opportunities. “The two partners will send two Indian startups based on artificial intelligence to the Silicon Valley in February for a “three-month experience”, said Apoorv Ranjan Sharma, co-founder of Venture Catalysts.
The two partners are looking for startups which develop technology that have the potential to be global winners to help them with networking and mentoring.
They have already picked two artificial intelligence startups specialised in image processing and insurance. “Interest in service-oriented startups is on the decline, we are more interested in tech and global product based startups,” said Sharma.
Venture Catalysts will also look to raise capital for startups based in the US.
As per Sharma, at least 10 startups would be sent to the Valley on a yearly basis in the beginning 2016.
Venture Catalysts is targeting $14.9 Mn (INR 100 Cr.) corpus from multiple investors that will drive a seed stage investment of an average ticket size ranging from $112K (INR 75 lakhs) to $224K (INR 1.5 Cr) per venture. It plans to initially invest in about 15 to 20 startups on an annual basis.
We are looking to identify fresh talent and nurture them, bridging the gap between Silicon Valley and India,” said Yael Oppenheimer, international operations manager at Plug &Play International.
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