About Us

Our investment philosophy

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About Us

Ventureast is a pioneering Indian VC fund manager with close to $325 million under management. We have a rich history of investing in innovative businesses across multiple sectors, and multiple stages of a business - from seed and early to growth stages.

We partner with trailblazing entrepreneurs. Your passionately conceived vision and its fit with our contrarian investment approach is what define us. 

At Ventureast, we focus on rapidly growing businesses that have clearly defined competitive advantages. Our approach is defined by: 
- ‘Venture-style’ investing - investments over multiple rounds to match the business requirements.  
- Proactive value addition- engaging experts from our network, and providing operational and strategic counsel.
- Fund raising and clear exit strategies.
Many of us having been entrepreneurs ourselves, we understand that the journey can be demanding. We are passionate about what we do, we are extremely hands-on, and we have delivered great returns.

History

Established in the mid-90’s by a team of founders with rich entrepreneurial experience, we are now into the “fourth” generation of funds with close to $325 million under management. Ventureast’s first fund, APIDC Venture Capital Fund, catalysed the first effective privatisation of a financial institution in India. This became the platform from which many series of funds sprung up. 

Subsequently, the Ventureast Tenet Fund was set up in a unique partnership with the Tenet Group of IIT Madras, a first-of-its-kind incubation, seed and early stage fund in India. Ventureast Tenet Fund II was set up in 2007 with a similar sector focus. These funds enable us to foster seed stage companies which build unique technologies/ products/ applications in technology (internet, mobile and cloud), and technology-enabled (healthcare, education, financial services and cleantech) sectors. Additionally, the Fund focuses on startups which better leverage technologies to gain rapid leadership in meeting the needs of the digital divide/bottom of the pyramid sectors in India. 

Ventureast launched the Biotechnology Venture Fund in 2005, the first Life Sciences focussed Indian venture capital fund. Investments from this fund included cross–border deals, drug discovery and the biodiesel space. Its successor fund, the Ventureast Life Fund, set up in 2011, focuses on cleantech, food & agriculture, and healthcare sectors. 

The Ventureast Proactive Fund, launched in 2008, focuses on early to growth stage companies in the technology-enabled sectors, with primary emphasis on India’s needs. Investments made by this fund span a wide range of areas including infrastructure related services, retail and consumer driven sectors.

Investors

As with our investing and operating style, Ventureast adopts a differentiated approach to constructing its investor partnerships, with a view to better support our investees. A number of these investors are repeat investors, confirming the value we bring to our Limited Partners as well. 

Ventureast’s Limited Partners include three broad categories:  Indian financial institutions, consisting of commercial banks and insurance companies, which can further support investee companies with debt, working capital, and soft loans; global, multilateral financial institutions which can support investee companies with foreign currency debt, grants and sector-expert connectivity; and international institutions such as large family offices, pension funds and insurance companies, among others.

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