Ankur Capital, an early-stage investor that focusses on tech-driven businesses, has rolled out a new platform that will invest up to $1 million (around Rs 7.8 crore) in early-stage startups across agriculture, health, SMB SaaS, fintech, logistics, mobility, construction and livelihood, it said in a statement on Monday.
The sector-agnostic platform ‘Day Zero’ will help startups from initiation to scale for the entrepreneurs, as well as from funding to ecosystem support to mentoring, Ankur Capital added.
The platform, launched in collaboration with partners of Eximius Ventures, Upsparks, Capital-A and Gemba, also eyes to facilitate tie-ups among angels, micro-VCs and ecosystem enablers.
Ankur Capital was set up in 2014 by Rema Subramanian and Ritu Verma. Its first fund had invested in 14 companies including Cropin, Niramai, Healthsutra, ERC and StringBio. The fund has exited from three companies in 2021. The VC firm has around 30 companies in its portfolio across two funds.
“For Day Zero platform, we are working with top angels, micro-VCs and ecosystem enablers-right from banks to cloud providers. We also aim to help connect our founders to marquee investors as they raise follow-on capital. With this platform, we want to help the startups to grow and succeed at all levels,” said Mohammed Amaan Memon, Head, Day Zero.
In an interaction with VCCircle, Ankur Capital’s co-founder and managing partner Ritu Verma said that the firm will be investing in six to eight startups this year, while also reinvesting in existing portfolio firms. The investment will be based out of the currently closed $55 million fund. The firm also aims to float a new fund by 2022 end, she had said without divulging further details.
Last month, agrigenomics startup Piatrika Biosystems secured seed funding of $1.2 million led by Ankur Capital.
In May, Gurugram-based Josh Talks Pvt. Ltd, which operates regional content and upskilling platform Josh Talks raised $3.5 million in a funding round led by Ankur Capital.