Early-stage backer First Cheque has raised Rs 38 crore for its second fund from a clutch of global investors, the firm announced on Tuesday.
The firm is looking to invest in 50 startups in the next 18 months. Before launching the fund, First Cheque used to operate as an AngelList syndicate and had invested in over 100 startups in the last three years. The closure of its second fund takes the firm’s total assets under management to Rs 90 crore.
The firm is looking to back first-time founders and will invest $100,000 in each of its portfolio companies. First Cheque aims to be the earliest institutional capital available for founders and seeks to achieve this by investing at the pre-seed stage. The sector-agnostic fund is also open to backing founding teams at the paper-plan stage.
“We are looking to back founders with less emphasis on conventional prerequisites such as educational pedigree, previous founding experience and conviction from other VCs. In our investment decision, ‘Founder-Market Fit’ will take precedence over these factors. We believe that India needs more seed-stage institutional capital and mentorship, which we aim to provide via our founder community, dedicated program and a network of seasoned investors and venture partners,” said Prateek Agarwal, investment lead, First Cheque.
The firm said it has streamlined its deployment process to less than 30 days, it is also looking to launch the in-house program with founders, sector experts, and venture capitalists to share experiences around building a company, GTM (go-to market) strategy, hiring and retention, monetization, and fundraising.
First Cheque also works with over 50 venture partners, consisting of founders, product managers, community managers, sector experts and growth managers. The firm is looking to onboard undergraduate venture fellows. It has backed companies like Fashinza, Giva, Rocketlane, Fleetx, Wint Wealth, Plaza/Rigi, Global Fair, Drink Prime, and Bellatrix Aerospace among others.
