ET BureauNEW DELHI: IvyCap Ventures, which largely focuses on funding startups from the premier IITs and IIMs, is in the process of raising up to Rs 1,200 crore from IIT and IIM alumni as well as foreign and domestic financial institutions.
The venture fund, which also mentors the entrepreneurs apart from funding them, has managed to get a soft commitment of Rs 300 crore. Its first fund size was Rs 250 crore, focused only on early-stage investments. This will be its second round of funding.
"The interest from alumni and financial institutions is very high for our second fund," says Vikram Gupta, IvyCap founder and managing partner.
The second fund will also focus on seed funding apart from early stage investments. "Had it not been for the alumni closely associated with the fund, we would not have been able to garner this kind of interest from FIs," says Gupta, who expects at least 20% of the second fund to be sourced from the alumni.
IvyCap intends to raise half of the second fund domestically and the rest from overseas investors. Gupta said that IvyCap was in discussions with India’s leading FIs from Hong Kong, Singapore, the Middle East, UK and the US for the fund. He did not disclose details, though.
IvyCap has 5,000 alumni signed up as mentors and is expecting this number to double to 10,000 this year. "Interest among alumni (IIT and IIM) is very high as the whole ecosystem is now highly conducive for new entrepreneurs," he says.
From its pool of mentors, IvyCap has handpicked 35 to engage on a more proactive basis with the startups. A few of the mentors (some of whom also happen to be investors) include Yogesh Andlay, managing director of Nucleus Software Engineers, Pramod Saxena (MD of Oxigen Services), Deep Kalra (CEO and founder MakeMyTrip. com), Harsh Chitale (former CEO HCL Infosystems and CEO Philips Lighting Solutions -- South Asia).
IvyCap brings the alumni closer to their alma mater where the former invest money and even time in startups run by IIT/IIM students. Apart from mentoring and funding, Ivy Cap also intends to fill the gaps in talent at these start-ups through its network.
For instance, it managed to rope in Sunil Jain (IIT Kanpur graduate who has worked with Amazon) to join as the vice president --technology at Reuters Market Light and Rajev Shukla (IIM Calcutta graduate currently with Unilever) to act as a mentor on brand building at Purplle.com.
The venture fund, which also mentors the entrepreneurs apart from funding them, has managed to get a soft commitment of Rs 300 crore. Its first fund size was Rs 250 crore, focused only on early-stage investments. This will be its second round of funding.
"The interest from alumni and financial institutions is very high for our second fund," says Vikram Gupta, IvyCap founder and managing partner.
The second fund will also focus on seed funding apart from early stage investments. "Had it not been for the alumni closely associated with the fund, we would not have been able to garner this kind of interest from FIs," says Gupta, who expects at least 20% of the second fund to be sourced from the alumni.
IvyCap intends to raise half of the second fund domestically and the rest from overseas investors. Gupta said that IvyCap was in discussions with India’s leading FIs from Hong Kong, Singapore, the Middle East, UK and the US for the fund. He did not disclose details, though.
IvyCap has 5,000 alumni signed up as mentors and is expecting this number to double to 10,000 this year. "Interest among alumni (IIT and IIM) is very high as the whole ecosystem is now highly conducive for new entrepreneurs," he says.
From its pool of mentors, IvyCap has handpicked 35 to engage on a more proactive basis with the startups. A few of the mentors (some of whom also happen to be investors) include Yogesh Andlay, managing director of Nucleus Software Engineers, Pramod Saxena (MD of Oxigen Services), Deep Kalra (CEO and founder MakeMyTrip. com), Harsh Chitale (former CEO HCL Infosystems and CEO Philips Lighting Solutions -- South Asia).
IvyCap brings the alumni closer to their alma mater where the former invest money and even time in startups run by IIT/IIM students. Apart from mentoring and funding, Ivy Cap also intends to fill the gaps in talent at these start-ups through its network.
For instance, it managed to rope in Sunil Jain (IIT Kanpur graduate who has worked with Amazon) to join as the vice president --technology at Reuters Market Light and Rajev Shukla (IIM Calcutta graduate currently with Unilever) to act as a mentor on brand building at Purplle.com.
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