Once the initial small sum of money received from family, friends or angel investors is over, and your small startup is in a position to scale up, hire more people, and dip toes in a bigger market, enter venture capital firms to help you do exactly that.



What is venture capital funding? Venture capital is the financing that is made in startups or small businesses that have high growth potential. Apart from the capital, venture capital firms also bring in technical and managerial expertise to the table. This is done in lieu of the ownership stake in the growing business. Venture capitalists are usually high net worth individuals, insurance companies, large corporations, pension funds etc. and their objective is to earn the best return on investment (ROI) for the money they are investing.

There are VCs that invest in new-age industries and there are some that buy in to the passion and vision of the founders. Here is a list of Venture capital firms that might come in handy if you are looking for some money to flow into your brilliant business plan:

An early-stage venture fund, 500 startups has so far invested in over 1500 companies across 50 countries.

Key people: Pankaj Jain

Key sectors: Consumer commerce, Design, Food tech, Cloud services, Family tech and education, Payments and Financial services

Key investments: EduKart, Urjakart

Accel comes with over three decades of experience of supporting dreams of many entrepreneurs in domains spanning technology to media.

Key people: Mahendran Balachandran

Key sectors: Consumer, Internet, Mobile, Healthcare, Enterprise Software & Services

Key investments: Flipkart, BabyOye, Myntra, BookMyShow, HolidayIQ

Ascent Capital is an India-centric private equity and venture capital firm. Since its inception 15 years ago, Ascent has helped steer over 55 ventures across diverse sectors and continues to fuel many more entrepreneurial ideas.

Key people: Raja Kumar

Key sectors: Technology, Ecommerce, Healthcare, Financial Services, Consumer Brands, Infrastructure

Key investments: Bigbasket

Started in 1984 by the partners from the consulting arm, Bain & Company, Bain Capital Private Equity has made over 270 high-return yielding investments, operating from eight offices on three continents.

Key people: Amit Chandra

Key sectors: Consumer, Retail & Dining, Financial & Business Services, Healthcare, Industrial & Energy, Technology, Media & Telecom

Key investments: Himadri

Basil Partners invests in either Indian or Asian companies which have expansion plans of going global or European/American companies with India or Asia as their focus area of operation.

Key people: Rajeev Srivastava

Key sectors: IT services

Key investments: Karmic Lifesciences

Bessemer invests in all stages of a startup, from seed to growth. With 116 Bessemer backed companies gone the IPO route, the venture capital firm continues to be behind some of the names that have grown to become category leaders.

Key people: Vishal Gupta

Key sectors: Internet and mobile, Software products, Financial services, Healthcare, Power and infrastructure

Key investments: Snapdeal

India’s leading tech-focused VC firm, Blume prides in investing not in ideas but in people with passion. Their portfolio consists of more than 60 companies and they have been funding about 20 companies since inception.

Key people: Karthik Reddy

Key sectors: Software, Mobile, E-commerce

Key investments: Purplle, BedBathMore, RoadRunnr

Started in 1997 as one of the first to focus exclusively on internet investing, Clearstone has been a partner in the growth of many big names including PayPal.

Key people: Vish Mishra

Key sectors: Infrastructure, E-commerce, Social, Mobile

Key investments: Games2win, Billdesk

Eight Roads is the investment arm of Fidelity International Limited. They invest long term and have been invested in some companies for close to 25 years.

Key people: Kabir Narang

Key sectors: Healthcare, Technology, Consumer

Key investments: BankBazaar, Chai Point

10.

Forum Synergies assists the investee companies with business leadership and operating expertise. It also lays emphasis on industry participation to help new companies.

Key people: Samir Inamdar

Key sectors: Engineering, Healthcare, Clean Technology, Information & Communication Technology

Key investments: Drishti, Cbazaar

A VC firm that believes in investing in great companies at a fair value and not ordinary businesses at bargain prices. Fulcrum also prides itself in being a hands on investor.

Key people: Krishna Ramanathan

Key sectors: Education, Financial Services, FMCG, Healthcare, niche Retail

Key investments: Richfeel Health and Beauty Pvt Ltd, SwaaS Systems

GA brings a legacy of investing for the long term, building value over time. They get involved at the board level and work directly with the management on key initiatives.

Key people: Sandeep Naik

Key sectors: Internet & Technology, Retail & Consumer, Financial Services

Key investments: Mu Sigma, BillDesk, House of Anita Dongre

Founded in 2013, Google Capital is the late-stage growth capital fund financed by Alphabet Inc. and so far has invested in about 21 companies.

Key people: Kaushik Anand

Key sectors: Big Data, Fintech, Security, Vertical Market Software

Key investments: CarDekho, Practo, CommonFloor

14.

An India based venture fund focussing on early to mid stage investments and so far have invested in 60 companies. The Economic Times announced Helion as India’s "largest domestic venture capital firm" for the year 2012.

Key people: Sanjeev Aggarwal

Key sectors: Technology, Education, Financial Services, Healthcare

Key investments: Bigbasket, MakeMyTrip, BabyOye, ShopClues

It invests with the objective of crazy growth, fuelled ambition and disruptive creation. Typically investing in early stages, it assists the startups beyond just providing money.

Key people: Ashwin Srivastava

Key sectors: Technology, Consumer

Key investments: Infurnia Furnishings, Qriyo Infolabs

IDG Ventures India is part of IDG Ventures, a global network of technology venture funds. Power and network of IDG platform and investing experience of India team is what differentiates them from the rest.

Key people: Sudhir Sethi

Key sectors: Consumer media & tech, Software, Health tech, Fintech

Key investments: FirstCry, Myntra, Tripoto, Yatra, Zivame

Intel Capital has so far invested in over 1445 companies in 57 countries, with 212 companies going public and 383 being acquired or participated in a merger.

Key people: Pradeep Tagare

Key sectors: Client & perpetual computing, Datacentre-cloud, Digital media, Internet, Manufacturing, Security, Smart devices, Software & Services

Key investments: Healthkart, Hungama, IndiaMart, Snapdeal, Savaari, Yatra

Having invested in over 120 startups in India and US, Inventus has experience and interest in high-margin business models like internet marketplaces.

Key people: Kanwal Rekhi

Key sectors: Mobile, E-commerce, Services, Internet, Finance, Communications, Healthcare, Education

Key investments: redBus, Policy Bazaar, Savaari

IvyCap invests with an entrepreneur-centric approach where it focuses on professional entrepreneurs from premier education institutions of the country.

Key people: Vikram Gupta

Key sectors: Healthcare & life sciences, Education, Infrastructure, Technology, Agri & food processing

Key investments: Purplle, Clovia, BlueStone

Jungle Ventures has been investing and steering startups in Asia with investments made in India, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

Key people: Anurag Srivastava

Key sectors: Consumer internet, enterprise tech

Key investments: Milaap, Tookitaki

Largely sector agnostic, Kae Capital’s key focus is on investing in innovation, leadership, and growth. It looks for entrepreneurs who use technology to come up innovative solutions for the market needs.

Key people: Sasha Mirchandani

Key sectors: Mobile, E-commerce, Education, Healthcare, Consumer internet

Key investments: Healthkart, Truly Madly, Truebil, Frsh

Kalaari believes in supporting entrepreneurs who are building innovative solutions that change the way we live, work, consume, and transact.

Key people: Vani Kola

Key sectors: E-commerce, Education, Healthcare

Key investments: Snapdeal, Myntra, Instamojo, Urban Ladder

Lightbox is an eclectic mix of people who came together to start the fund. With the team having had worked in consumer technology space, this became their sector of choice at Lightbox.

Key people: Sandeep Murthy

Key sectors: Consumer technology

Key investments: Faasos, Cleartrip, Info Edge

Founded in 2000, Lightspeed Venture has been investing in companies with a strong focus on disruptive innovations and trends in Enterprise and Consumer sectors.

Key people: Bejul Somaia

Key sectors: Advertising and media, Business services, Financial services, Healthcare, Education and Retail

Key investments: Limeroad, Freshmenu, Oyo, LocalOye

Lok Capital was founded with the objective of an inclusive growth. It invests in start-ups that cater to the largely ignored segments with investments in sectors like financial services, agriculture/livelihood, and healthcare sectors.

Key people: Rajiv B. Lall

Key sectors: Financial services, Agriculture/livelihood and Healthcare

Key investments: Veritas Finance, Drishti, RuralShores

Like its US counterpart which started in 1977, Matrix India has been investing in promising businesses and backing many dreams since 2006.

Key people: Avnish Bajaj

Key sectors: Consumer, Internet, Travel, E-commerce & marketplaces

Key investments: Limeroad, Ola, Practo

Started in 1969, Mayfield has invested in more than 520 companies globally, resulting in 114 IPO and more than 160 mergers and acquisitions.

Key people: Navin Chaddha

Key sectors: Consumer, Education, Media, Technology

Key investments: Knowlarity, TripHobo

Naspers is a global internet and entertainment group with operations in more than 130 markets.

Key people: Bob van Dijk, Basil (Vasili) Sgourdos, Mark Sorour

Key sectors: B2C, Media

Key investments: OLX, redBus, Flipkart, Myntra, Goibibo

NEA’s investment strategy includes investing in all stages of the companies, from seed funding in emerging markets to funding early-stage companies in high-growth markets and growth-stage investments in market leaders.

Key people: Bala Deshpande

Key sectors: Consumer services, Infrastructure services, Alternative energy, Agriculture and Healthcare

Key investments: Naaptol

Nexus invests in early-stage companies and also provides follow-on investments at later stages of start-ups that have proven their mettle.

Key people: Sandeep Singhal

Key sectors: Consumer, Enterprise, Business services

Key investments: Craftsvilla, Delhivery, OLX, Stayzilla

Nirvana likes to be the first institutional investor for a startup to make a meaningful contribution to its growth.

Key people: Amit Patni

Key sectors: Mobile, Internet, E-commerce, Online travel, Online advertising and marketing

Key investments: Zopper, Housing, Games2win

A multi-stage venture capital firm, Norwest has funded more than 575 companies since its inception.

Key people: Niren Shah

Key sectors: Enterprise & SaaS, Cloud & IT, Internet & consumer, Services, Healthcare

Key investments: IndusInd Bank, ING Vysya Bank, Pepperfry

The experience of the management team along with the presence of a market need that can be addressed.

Key people: Dr Rajesh Srivathsa

Key sectors: Mobile applications, Telecom/wireless technologies, embedded software, Web application/services, Consumer internet and ecommerce, SaaS

Key investments: CBazaar, vizury

Orios invests in seed and series A investments in online consumer tech and SaaS startups.

Key people: Rehan yar Khan

Key sectors: Online consumer tech and SaaS

Key investments: Zo Rooms, Ola, Unbxd

Qualcomm has been investing in mobile and wireless innovation for 15 years now.

Key people: Karthee Madasamy

Key sectors: Healthcare, Consumer, Hardware, Systems/components, Enterprise

Key investments: Portea, YourStory, MapmyIndia, Fab Hotels

The firm was launched with a mandate to invest in emerging and high-growth sectors across the globe.

Key people: Kshitij Gupta

Key sectors: Technology, Media & entertainment, Telecom, Infrastructure

Key investments: Yatra

Saama Capital fund companies in early and growth stages. They are valued by entrepreneurs for taking an active part in helping them with operational, financing, and strategic matters.

Key people: Ash Lilani

Key sectors: Ecommerce, Tech field support, hardware and software

Key investments: Chai Point, BlueStone, iYogi, Snapdeal

SAIF Partners has invested in about 50 companies in India with 5 companies going the IPO way.

Key people: Alok Goel

Key sectors: Consumer, ITES, Education, Internet, Healthcare

Key investments: bookmyshow, FirstCry, ixigo, Paytm, Swiggy

Seedfund invests in early stage startups across sectors and some of its invested companies have redefined the market paradigm for the Indian consumer.

Key people: Mahesh Murthy

Key sectors: Healthcare, Education, Rural marketing, E-commerce, Technology

Key investments: Redbus, CarWale

Sequoia Capital has invested in over 250 companies since 1972 and continues to invest in startups that dare to dream different.

Key people: Vt Bharadwaj

Key sectors: Consumer, Healthcare, Technology

Key investments: BankBazaar, Cardekho, Craftsvilla, Oyo

SVCL invests in companies with high-growth potential, a committed management team, established performance record and a high degree of integrity.

Key people: Ananta Padmanabhan Sarma

Key sectors: Software, Technology, Light engineering, Clean-tech, Agro-based industries, Logistics, Infrastructure, Education services

Key investments: mycity4kids, Printland

Steadview is a leading alternative asset manager making concentrated long-term investments across multiple industries.

Key people: Ravi Mehta

Key sectors: Consumer, Internet

Key investments: Flipkart, Ola, Urban Ladder

Trifecta is into venture debt which is a boon for new economic businesses that have had access to only equity financing to fund their growth.

Key people: Rahul Khanna

Key sectors: Technology, Consumer, Healthcare

Key investments: Helpchat, knowlarity

Tuscan has been actively investing in logistics and distribution domains and has also taken in to supply chain, food and agriculture industries in India.

Key people: Shagun Kapur Gogia

Key sectors: Logistics & distribution

Key investments: Coldstar

45. Unilazer

Unilazer invests in businesses and sectors that are a part of India’s consumption story and high-impact sectors like agriculture, health care, microfinance, and education.

Key people: Ronnie Screwvala

Key sectors: Agriculture, Health Care, Micro Finance and Education

Key investments: Maroosh, Zivame, Lenskart

46. Unitus Seed Fund

Unitus Seed Fund provides seed funding to startups working towards innovations that help serve low-income population in the country.

Key people: Dave Richards

Key sectors: Education, Financial Technology, Mobile & Consumer, Retail & Ecommerce, Healthcare, Agriculture

Key investments: mGaadi, Milaap, Hippocampus

47. Utthishta

Utthishta provides seed funding along with focussed mentoring to early-stage startups for a small share of equity.

Key people: P. Ramakrishna

Key sectors: B2B software, web, mobile and cloud

Key investments: Scanova

48. Ventureast

In over 15 years, Ventureast has helped over 60 businesses in technology, life sciences, and emerging sectors become leaders in their spaces.

Key people: Sarath Naru

Key sectors: Technology and Technology-enabled, Life science and clean environment, Seed and incubation stage businesses

Key investments: Portea

49. Vertex Ventures

Vertex invests in companies that are poised to tap the young and energetic demographic, the emerging confidence of middle class and rapidly adopt disruptive technologies.

Key people: Ben Mathias

Key sectors: Mobile, Internet, Services, Tech-enabler

Key investments: FirstCry, Yatra

50. Warburg Pincus

A global player in private equity space, Warburg Pincus has raised 15 private equity funds that have invested in over 750 companies in over 40 countries.

Key people: Niten Malhan

Key sectors: Energy, Financial Services, Healthcare, Consumer, Technology, Media, Telecommunications, Industrial & Business Services

Key investments: CarTrade, BIBA, Quikr, Lemon Tree Hotels

51. Zodius Capital

Zodius partners with entrepreneurs to build India-centric businesses that have the potential of creating new markets and also have the potential of yielding high growth.

Key people: Neeraj Bhargava

Key sectors: Enterprise software & services, Data & analytics, Consumer mobile/internet markets

Key investments: Bigbasket

Now these are 51 of the most active venture capital/private equity firms currently operating in India. Think we missed any? Do let us know in the comments section.

If you are a startup, have got the much-needed funding and are now looking to expand your team, let us help you hire the very best for your startup. Reach out to Waqar at buzz {at] sutrahr.com or +91 87 67 427 427 and we will take care of the rest.