500 Startups, a seed accelerator and investment fund set up by Dave McClure, has appointed Pankaj Jain as venture partner to lead its investments in India. New Delhi-based Jain has been involved in the Indian startup scene for the last five years as an entrepreneur, community builder at Startup Weekend, mentor and investor.
"Pankaj (Jain) will be focusing on investing in Indian startups, investor relations and building community across India," said a statement. 500 Startups has made over 10 investments in Indian companies including Teliport.me, MyGola, CucumberTown.
It also recently backed the GSF Accelerator for startups in India started by Rajesh Sawhney, former president of Reliance Entertainment and founder of GSF Superangels in India.
Most recently, Jain was consulting for the TLabs accelerator in New Delhi, where he was focused on deal sourcing and running the accelerator. Prior to moving to India in 2007, Jain spent over ten years running technology and operations in NYC for multiple hedge funds, including Long Term Capital Management.
500 Startups has also added Shai Goldman, who was till recently with Silicon Valley Bank, as a venture partner based out of New York. It also has a presence in Mexico and Brazil.
(Edited by Prem Udayabhanu)