US-based angel investment platform Globevestor plans to make 18 investments in a year compared with 12 currently and launch its second micro venture capital fund, co-founder Ankur Shrivastava told VCCircle.
In three years, the firm has backed 32 startups, of which 21 are based in India. While the rest are operating in the US and Canada, they are founded by Indian-origin entrepreneurs, said Shrivastava.
Globevestor, which has a network of 700 investors, controls the screening process, diligence, terms negotiation, information updates and ongoing supervision till exit. The investors on its platform who participate in a startup fundraising will be solely represented by Globevestor as far as the investee firm is concerned.
Globevestor’s portfolio companies—including Zoomcar, Rubique, OnlineTyari, Springboard and Flintobox—have together raised nearly $80 million to date. “Our 2014 investment cohort is currently clocking about 52% gross unrealised IRR (internal rate of return) and the 2015 cohort is at around 41% gross unrealised IRR,” Shrivastava said.
“We support them (portfolio firms) with follow-on investments, question their ongoing strategy, offer advice and make connections. We have participated in 80% of the follow-on rounds of our portfolio companies, and even led follow-on investments if the founders needed our support,” he said.
Shrivastava did not disclose the total investment that Globevestor has made so far. However, the firm’s investment ticket size is $75,000 to $250,000 and on an average, it writes cheques worth $125,000. Going by this, it must have made a total investment of around $4 million so far.
Globevestor, which leads investments of its partner network, also makes investments from its own fund in portfolio startups. As its first micro fund would fully be invested soon, it is planning to launch its second sub-$1 million fund.
“We focus on startups from India which are building products for the global markets,” Shrivastava said. He cited the example of Zoomcar which is preparing for an international launch.
“We are keen to support founders who are building exciting global ventures in SaaS, blockchain, DevOps and other new-age technologies,” he said.
