Early-stage investment firm cum startup accelerator Peesh Venture Capital (PVC), which has backed a clutch of US-based startups, has said it will now also invest in India out of its recently raised $50 million (Rs 301 crore) fund. It has simultaneously also launched an accelerator programme in India.
It will mainly work with startups in the ad-tech, e-commerce, gaming, education, mobile apps, enterprise software, wearables and Internet of Things (IoT) space.
PVC will invest from $100,000 to $5 million in growth stage companies while its accelerator will invest $5,000-$100,000 in exchange for equity in startups.
Its existing portfolio companies include Serosoft Solution, Campus Bubble, GI Group, Easy Education and BlackBelt Help.
The fund was launched last year by Peesh Chopra (managing partner), a theology graduate from Columbia University. Prior to this, he has worked at Kryptos Mobile and also founded Student Online (latter sold to a US-based PE firm). He has also been an advisor to startups in the enterprise software, cloud and mobile applications space including Serosoft Solution, GI Group, Easy Education, BlackBelt Help and Imagination Learning Solution.
“PVC typically likes to be the first institutional investors in new ventures and support them from the earliest stages of business development through successful exit and beyond,” said Chopra.
It has launched two branches of PVC Accelerator in the country at Bangalore and Gurgaon.
The International Institute of Information Technology-Bangalore (IIIT-Bangalore) and Peesh Venture Capital had earlier entered into a strategic partnership to accelerate and fund IoT and mobile app startups by combining IIIT-Bangalore Innovation Centre’s incubation facilities and knowledge ecosystem with PVC's VC fund.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)