StartupCentral

In the concluding part of the series, our panelists picked out startups that they particularly liked from the Proto.in Edition 6 showcase. 14 startups were showcased. Here are the seven VC favourites:

Vigyaapan Technologies , eMart Solutions, HyCa Technologies, Vardenchi Motorcycles, Vrixx Education Solutions, BankBazaar, TouchMagix Media

Panelists: Alok Mittal, Canaan Partners; Sateesh Andra, DFJ; Ravi Narayan, Mentor Partners; Rajesh Srivathsa, Ojas Ventures; Rahul Chowdhri, Helion Venture Partners; Shailendra Singh, Sequoia Capital India; Sasidhar Nandigam, GVFL.

A special note of thanks to your venture capital panel for spending time with us and sharing their insights.

Panelists’ profiles here

In the second part of the Startupcentral-Proto.in Venture Capital Round Table series panelists talk about what kind of companies or businesses constitute venture-fundable startups.

Panelists: Alok Mittal, Canaan Partners; Sateesh Andra, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Ravi Narayan, Mentor Partners; Rajesh Srivathsa, Ojas Ventures; Rahul Chowdhri, Helion Venture Partners; Sasidhar Nandigam, Gujarat Venture Finance

Panelist profiles here.

Are Indian venture capitalists investing in enough startups? Startupcentral, in collaboration with Proto.in, put together a panel of venture capitalists to talk about their investing strategies. The round table was held on the sidelines of Proto.in Edition 6 in Pune.

Panelist Profiles

Alok Mittal, General Partner, Canaan Partners

Mittal co-founded jobs portal Jobahead, which was acquired by Monster, prior to becoming an investor. His investing career started with Baring Private Equity Partners India where he led the technology practice. He is also a founding member of Indian Angel Network. In 2006 he was signed up by Canaan to lead the firm’s investments here. His investments include Bharatmatrimony, Cellcast and Chakpak Media. Canaan invests in the technology and healthcare sectors and has $3 billion under management globally. In India it focuses on consumer Internet and digital media, mobile, enterprise and managed services. It invests between $2 million and $5 million per company over a number of years and can start with as little as $100,000.

Sateesh Andra, Venture Partner, Draper Fisher Jurvetson

Andra is a serial entrepreneur who turned venture capitalist with DFJ in 2007. Metrikus and Euclid Software, the two US-based IT startups he co-founded, were acquired by Persistent Systems and e4e respectively. His investments through DFJ include mGinger and Pressmart and he is an observer on the Cleartrip board. Andra stays closely involved with young entrepreneurs through the TiE-ISB Connect startup networking forum. DFJ invests largely in technology companies and manages over $6 billion in capital globally alongside its affiliate network of funds. In India, the firm invests in early and mid-stage companies in cleantech, mobile, information technology and consumer services.

Ravi Narayan, Managing Director, Mentor Partners

Narayan founded startups American Systems International and Nextone Communications and worked in various operating roles in the telecom and information technology industry before Mentor Partners. The firm provides venture capital advisory services to startups and has plans to raise its own $30-50 million fund. Narayan is an advisor to Proto.in and also runs MentorSquare, an online mentoring programme that helps startups and small enterprises access resources and know-how on business best practices, customers and efficiencies.

Rajesh Srivathsa, Managing Partner, Ojas Ventures

Srivathsa has extensive experience working with startups (Emuzed) and leading technology companies (Aricent, Lucent) in the US and has several technology patents to his credit. Ojas invests in early stage technology businesses from a $35 million fund and has invested in startups such as Tyfone, Ziva and Mango Technologies. The firm’s  thesis is to seed fund young startups and help them to become capable of raising the next round of venture capital.

Rahul  Chowdhri, Vice President, Helion Venture Partners

Chowdhri has worked with Microsoft India, marketRx and i2 Technologies in various roles including developing business strategy and software product management. He turned to venture capital with Helion in 2007. Helion is a $350 million India-focused venture capital investor which invests in technology and consumer services businesses. It invests upto $10 million across the life of a company and is stage independent, starting from seed to later stage deals. Its portfolio of current investments includes Amba Research, Brand Calculus and Jigrahak Mobility.

Shailendra Singh, Principal, Sequoia Capital India

Singh co-founded and led outsourcing startup Jalva Media and worked as a consultant at Bain & Co before joining Sequoia in 2006. He focuses on investments in consumer, healthcare, Internet and outsourcing and his investments include GlobalLogic, Guruji and JustDial. Sequoia manages nearly $2 billion in capital in India and invests across stages and sectors.

Sasidhar Nandigam, Senior Associate, GVFL

Nandigam focuses on lifesciences, clean tech, renewable energy and biotech investments at GVFL. Apart from investing, he also actively works with investee companies in operational areas such as marketing and managing financials. GVFL has raised six technology-focused venture capital funds worth Rs 244 crore since 1990. It is currently raising a Rs 250 crore SME Technology Venture Fund. It portfolio of investments includes Icenet, Neilsoft and Pegasus Semiconductors.

A special note of thanks to the organizers of Proto.in for hosting the round table.

Somebody please tell me what exactly happened at the three-day Bootcamp that preceded Proto.in Edition 6. The agenda note said that the Bootcamp would, among other things, “teach and groom (the showcase startups) with everything that goes into the mastery of delivering a pitch.” The results at the July 25 showcase in Pune were disastrous, to say the least. Not one startup that presented at the showcase (each was given six minutes) answered with precision or satisfaction the six essential questions that a good elevator pitch should address:

1. What does the product or service do? Guy Kawasaki recommends in ‘The Art Of The Start’ (recommended reading for every bootstrapped entrepreneur) that this question should be answered in less than a minute. Which means it has to be simple and precise.
2. Who are you selling to? The entrepreneur should be able to clearly identify the end user, which should automatically illustrate why that person would be using his product or service.
3. How will you make money? Most pitches at the showcase spent the least time on this one. Read the full story

The sixth edition of Proto.in will see, among other things, curator Vijay Anand stepping back and others such as Ravi Shankar and Sudhir Syal taking charge of the startup showcase. Anand is on to something new related to the startup ecosystem. Some details on what to expect from the Pune edition:

• Ganesh Natarajan, CEO of Zensar Technologies, will deliver the keynote address
• Experts will analyse how intellectual property rights affect startups
• Discussions on how government and policy can be better leveraged by startups

15 startups will be showcased at the one-day event. The venue is the Dewang Mehta Auditorium, Persistent Systems, Pune. More details on other activities here.

For more on the 12 companies that were showcased in Edition 5 in January visit the Proto.in blog here.