BVP tweaks India strategy; more technology, early stage startups

Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP), the Menlo Park, California headquartered early-to-growth stage investor, is in the middle of small though significant transition in India. The firm has all but moved its operations to Bangalore, as it sharpens its focus on earlier stage investments in the technology domain. The Mumbai offices, which served as BVP’s India headquarters…More

NVP launches twelfth global fund with $1.2 bn corpus

Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), the Palo Alto, California headquartered multi-stage venture and growth equity investor, is announcing the close of its latest fund, dubbed Norwest Venture Partners XII, LP. The $1.2 billion fund targets early-to-late stage venture and growth investments across sectors. The new fund,  brings NVP’s total capital and commitments to approximately $5 billion…More

Kleiner India head Sandeep Murthy launches Lightbox Ventures

Mumbai based Lightbox Ventures is the newest entrant to the Indian venture capital market. The barely a month-old firm has some familiar names at its helm. The team is fronted by Sandeep Murthy, who has just stepped down from Sherpalo Ventures, where he led the India investments for both Sherpalo and Kleiner Perkins Caulfield and…More

5ideas founder Gaurav Kachru joins as CEO of Bag it Today — Medianama

5ideas Startup Superfuel founder Gaurav Kachru has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of India Today’s e-commerce venture Bag It Today. (Thanks for the anonymous tip, whoever you are). Kachru has confirmed this to Medianama. He also mentioned that he will continue as the founder and advisor of 5ideas Startup Superfuel, the seed fund launched by Kachru and Pearl…More

HomeShop18 files for $75 mn IPO on NYSE — Medianama

We’ve been expecting this: Indian TV and E-commerce company HomeShop18 has filed for a $75 million IPO on NASDAQ, via its venture NW18 HSN holding. The company proposes to trade on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol HS. Some notes from the offer document. More to follow. – 8.9 million consumers have…More

Google Capital emerges from stealth; bets on education

Search giant Google has taken the lid of off its growth equity investment arm Google Capital. Backed by proprietary capital from its parent, the firm is being led by partners David Lawee, Scott Tierney and Gene Frantz. It is also announcing its first bet on the education sector with a $40 million investment in Renaissance…More

Mayfield raises $108 mn India Fund II

Mayfield Fund, the Menlo Park headquartered early-to-growth stage venture capital investor, is announcing the closing of its $108 million second India focused venture capital fund, dubbed Mayfield India II. A total of nine institutional investors have participated in the fund, the firm said in an SEC filing yesterday. Earlier in January this year, the firm…More

Omidyar Network India chief Jayant Sinha quits firm

Jayant Sinha has stepped down as managing director and head of India investments at Omidyar Network, the impact investment firm backed by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam. An Omidyar Network spokesperson at the firm’s Mumbai offices confirmed the development to StartupCentral today. The firm is currently in the process of evaluating candidates…More

Former Mumbai Angels chief Anil Joshi raising $25 mn pre-Series A fund

More pre-Series A money is on its way for early stage startups. Former Mumbai Angels president Anil Joshi is raising $25 million for a new fund dubbed Dev Venture Fund. The technology sector-focused fund will invest at the pre-Series A stage. Joshi plans to raise up to 60 per cent of the fund corpus from…More