Internet services provider Excitel’s co-founder Vivek Raina along with six other startup executives have floated an early-stage incubator fund, which will focus on startups in Jammu & Kashmir.
The incubator fund called Launchpad Kashmir aims to invest and incubate 24 startups by the end of the current financial year.
Apart from Raina, the fund is co-floated by Khalid Wani of Western Digital, Vivirti Capital’s Namrata Kaul, Kunal Harisinghani of FlapKap, Ishfaq Mir of Kashmir Box, Thndr’s principal engineer Dawood Khan and Muheet Mehraj, the founder of Launchpad Kashmir.
The fund, which is a sector-agnostic initiative, aims to have a ticket size of Rs 20-25 lakh per bet. Additionally, the fund will support the startups in aspects such as mentorship, training and funds for proof of concept along with helping them build connections between entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and angel investors to help scale their businesses.
“As someone who has been involved in the startup ecosystem of Jammu & Kashmir for 13 years, my experience with Kashmir Box has given me insights into the challenges faced by local entrepreneurs both intellectual and financial. Although there are some incubators largely set up by educational institutions, Launchpad Kashmir is founded by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs,” said Muheet Mehraj, founder and chief executive officer, Launchpad Kashmir.
Earlier this year, the Nadathur S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL), the startup incubator of IIM Bengaluru also floated a deeptech focused pre-seed startup accelerator fund.
NSCREL, which was established in 2000, established the fund in collaboration with the government-owned lender Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI). The corpus of the fund was, however, not disclosed.