The fund has currently invested across diverse sectors, including food-tech, electric vehicles, health-tech, SaaS, and bio-tech. Its current portfolio boasts around 15 companies that include the likes of Amura, Bversity, BookingBee, MeenSatti, Mushroom MaMa, Pickmyad, Social Gallery, InspectionOne, Bad Boy, Correctmate and Trashbotics.
“We are looking to build the YCombinator of Tamil Nadu that is sector agnostic but will only focus on investing in startups based in Tamil Nadu,” Sambandam said at the launch event in Chennai.
“We have an approach of ‘Coach first, Capital second’ so we’re not only providing capital support needed to get started but also the mentorship, networks and strategic advice necessary to scale and succeed on a global stage.”
He explained that in the first phase the fund would look at the ‘idea stage’ startups wherein the funding would come in from the family office and would amount to about Rs 25 crores and would cover around 50 companies. So far 15 companies have received funding under the first phase.
“We are planning to invest close to Rs 125 crores in two phases over the next three-four years,” Sambandam said. “The phase one capital comes from family sources which takes away significant risk off the table for phase two. While we are not currently raising capital from Limited Partners (LPs), we plan to partner with LPs after two-three years to make follow-on investments in the same startups, following a model similar to the YCombinator in Silicon Valley.”The fund’s investments range from Rs 10 lakhs to Rs 1 crore and Sambandam said through its ‘Idea Pattarai’ accelerator, they have engaged with 1000 founders through closed door workshops over the last two years which has led to over 75 startups being in various stages of mentorship.
Not just this, at the event, the first look of one of the fund’s marquee investments was unveiled – the Bad Boy electric super trike. It is a fully electric, two seater which can accelerate from 1-100km/hour in under 4.5 seconds. It has a top speed of 200km/h and has a 400km range per charge.
“One of the standout features of the Bad Boy is its 45 degree tilting mechanism which provides superior agility and control when cornering. This feature ensures that the trike hugs curves while giving the rider a dynamic, motorcycle-like driving experience,” the fund said in a statement.
