Mercatus Capital, a Singapore-headquartered angel investment fund, has closed its maiden investment in India by funding i-Flapp Technologies, a company founded by a group of Bangalore engineers with operations in Singapore.
The fund hasn’t disclosed the quantum of investment but said that it typically invests $250,000 to $2 million dollars in each venture. In i-Flapp’s case, while the company will bring in technology expertise, the fund will help the start up gain a foothold in the commercial space. The engineers at i-Flapp have developed AppsD, a storage device that resembles a flash drive. The difference in this case is that instead of just files or images, the entire applications saved in a particular computer, can be loaded on to the AppsD. For example, an entire set of applications and settings on a desktop, such as Microsoft Outlook or Adobe can be saved in AppsD.
“With AppsD, a user need not carry his lap top everywhere. You can carry your applications in your pocket and plug it in any system you uses,” said Mr Sunder Mani, CEO and founder, i-Flapp. AppsD is currently being sold through online channels. But the company eventually plans to tap retail distribution channels to sell its product. “They can tap into our network spread across Asia and Europe and familiarize themselves with different distribution models,” said Mr Ravindran Govindan, executive chairman, Mercatus Capital.
Serial entrepreneur Ravindran Govindan heads two-year old Mercatus Capital based in Singapore. Industry observers say the shaky Western financial markets could result in more funds based out of Asia and Europe. So far, the Indian venture capital industry has been largely funded by the US. A couple of years back, Silicon Valley firms such as Norwest Venture partners and Draper Fisher Jurvetson set up their offices here.
“We haven’t set up an India specific fund yet or decided the number of investments. We are still evaluating the start up ecosystem and the companies here,” said Mr Rajesh Sukumaran, investment manager for Mercatus Capital’s India operations.
Mercatus is positioning itself as a pure-play angel investment firm, because it hasn’t raised money from any endowment or pension fund, but funds pooled in by a number of high net worth individuals.
The prominent and structured angel funds currently operating in India include Indian Angel Network, Mumbai Angels and the TiE Chennai Fund.
Source: Economic Times