Kolkata has seen more than a change in name over the past decade or so. But what goes unnoticed is the small yet consistent deal activity in the city with around a dozen private equity investments in city-based firms every year.
The city clocked around 10 PE investments during FY12 worth $330 million as per VCCEdge, the data research platform of VCCircle. This was spread across sectors, such as financial services, manufacturing, power, IT and tea. Over the last decade, Kolkata has clocked around 100 PE investments worth $1.3 billion.
To throw light on the business opportunities and how entrepreneurs are sidestepping the stereotype image of the city to grow their business, VCCircle is bringing the second edition of State Investment Forum in Kolkata. The investment forum, scheduled for July 19 at the Taj Bengal hotel, will see more than two dozen speakers from the PE/VC community, as well as entrepreneurs, bankers, CEOs and CFOs, debating and discussing emerging opportunities for investment and entrepreneurship across eastern India.
Some of the speakers who will share their thoughts and perspectives include Rajesh Srivastava (Chairman & MD, Rabo Equity Advisors Pvt Ltd), Shomik Mukherjee (Partner, Actis), Hetal Gandhi (MD, Tano India Advisors), Sanjeev Agarwal (MD, Helion Venture Partners), Gopal Srinivasan (Chairman & MD, TVS Capital), Sasha Mirchandani (Founder & MD, Kae Capital), Chandra Shekhar Ghosh (CMD, Bandhan Financial Services), Alok Roy (CMD, Medica Synergie Pvt Ltd), Rakesh Sony (director, Motilal Oswal Private Equity), Sabahat S Azim (CEO, Glocal Healthcare Systems Pvt Ltd), Kannan Sitaram (operating partner, India Equity Partners) and PP Gupta (MD, Techno Electric & Engineering Company), among others.
The event will seek to highlight the deal pipeline that Kolkata offers for the alternative asset class, what the PE industry is looking for in Kolkata entrepreneurs and vice-versa, the sectors where the city has an early-mover advantage, tomorrow’s hottest sectors to bet on and how easy or difficult it is for city businesses to access PE/VC funding, etc.
The forum will kick off with a panel discussion on mapping Kolkata’s deal quotient by looking at the profiles of the city’s investible companies, M&A deal potential in Kolkata and the kind of sectors and investment stages that look attractive to the PE/VC community.
The event will also give a lowdown to entrepreneurs on the must-do activities, such as adequate preparation for accessing capital from private equity funds and what investors look for in a business model. Speakers would share details regarding what to showcase to investors – be it revenue projection or real cash flow.
Entrepreneurs can also look forward to takeaways, such as how to align their valuation expectations with those of the investors and the right time in a firm’s business cycle to attract private equity money. Speakers would also share insights with the startups based in the city with the focus on how to go about getting VC and angel funding, what do such early-stage investors look for in a startup before investing and what’s the report card of the region with respect to such startup investments.
The event will also provide an opportunity for one-to-one interaction with India’s top PE investors in a special structured session called VCCircle Lounge. This is session is limited to select 10 companies and 10 investors.
For more details and to register, please .