Early-stage investor Real Time Angel Fund (RTAF) on Wednesday announced the launch of its Rs 100 crore fund. The sector-agnostic fund has also marked its first investment in business-to-business (B2B) marketplace for cart-pushers, MyMandi.
Besides capital access, the Securities and Exchanges Board of India (Sebi)-registered fund also provides networking support to startups with tech expertise and global business connections, said Pranay Mathur, partner and chief executive, Real Time Angel Fund.
The fund will invest in pre-seed to pre-series startups with a ticket size of Rs 1 crore per startup over the next five years, Mathur added.
The fund received its Sebi licence in July and marked its first close on 14 August. Mathur added that it will launch its mobile app platform for angel investors on 26 January, 2023 to make angel investments simplified and transparent.
“I believe it is the perfect time for angel investors to invest in seed stage startups having realistic valuation amid market situations and growth opportunities in India and global markets in scaling new business models,” said Amit Singal, general partner, Real Time Angel Fund.
The vehicle helps angel investors to invest in deals where startups are pre-screened before they are presented. Pre-screening is done on the basis of business model, market size, product/service, team capabilities and financial projections.
Coming to MyMandi, the Gwalior-based startup has raised a total of Rs 4 crore in its seed round led by Real Time Angel Fund, along with the participation of Let’s Venture and other angel investors.
MyMandi will use the funds for building technology and distribution strength in supporting the cart-pusher community. “In the last one year, MyMandi has grown 40x,” said Aggarwal.
Founded early this year by Suryansh Rana and Mahanaryaman Scindia, MyMandi is a B2B marketplace which aims to aggregate the existing cart-pusher community via an online platform. The company will also provide other value-added fintech services, including microlending, in a phased manner.
“By doing so we aggregate and support India’s largest last-mile delivery network that brings the market to doorstep targeting tier 2 and tier 3 cities. The cart-pusher market (GMV) is approximately $10 billion in tier 2 and tier 3 India and the total addressable market for MyMandi is close to $1 billion across 50 tier 2 cities, stated co-founders Rana and Scindia.