Author Archives: Snigdha Sengupta

Why Kanwal Rekhi didn’t want to exit redBus despite 10X returns

Online bus ticketing company redBus may have delivered one of India’s most successful venture capital exits last year, but if 68-year old Kanwal Rekhi had had his way, the company may not have been sold. In a characteristically candid interview with The Economic Times today, Rekhi, founder of early stage venture capital firm Inventus Capital…More

5 trends that defined venture capital in India in 2013

We get into 2014 coming off a year that has been eventful to say the least for the venture capital market in India. In 2013, investors hunted for bargains, squeezed out exits and right-sized portfolios, even as the overall environment for dealmaking slowed down on account of internal and external factors. New funds raised for…More

Unitus Seed Fund launches India BoP fund; raises $3.3 mn in first close

Unitus Seed Fund, the Seattle-based venture capital firm that invests in startups focused on opportunities at the bottom-of-the-pyramid, has raised $3.3 million (about Rs 20 crore) for its Unitus Seed Fund India (USFI). The fund has a final target corpus of $9-12 million (Rs 50-75 crore). The new fund has received approvals from the Securities…More

India now has an official angel investors’ lobby. Say hello to AAI

Organized angel investor networks in India largely work in isolation but that seems to be changing. Some of the country’s top angel networks have come together to form an association dubbed the Angel Association of India (AAI). The outfit was formally instituted on November 21 in a closed door meeting on the sidelines of the…More

Partner Event: SAIF Ignition Mumbai

SAIF Partners brings SAIF Ignition, a startup ecosystem outreach programme, to Mumbai this October. This will be the fourth edition of the series, which kicked off in Delhi in May. It concluded the Bangalore edition last week. The Mumbai agenda focuses on consumer Internet startups and their scale-up strategies. Registrations for the Mumbai event, scheduled…More

Partner Event: Mobile First — Is it time? Find out at SAIF Ignition Bangalore

The third edition of SAIF Ignition gets underway and this time the event, an initiative promoted by early-to-growth stage investor SAIF Partners, travels to Bangalore in September. On the agenda in this edition is mobile. Registrations are open — click on the link to register. EVENT DETAILS Theme: Mobile First: Is it time? Brainstorm on…More

ShopClues says ‘business as usual’ post CEO’s arrest

Clues Network, the Delaware-headquartered company that run online marketplace ShopClues, has issued an official statement following news of the company’s founder and CEO Sandeep Aggarwal being arrested in the US on insider trading charges. Scroll down for the statement: 31st July, 2013, Gurgaon, India: There have been media reports that ShopClues.com founder and CEO Sandeep…More

FBI arrests ShopClues founder Sandeep Aggarwal on insider trading charges

In some disturbing news from the local ecommerce sector, Sandeep Aggarwal, founder and CEO of Gurgaon-headquartered Clues Network, which runs online marketplace ShopClues, has been arrested in the US on insider trading charges. The arrest was made by FBI agents at San Jose, California. We are awaiting an official comment from ShopClues on the development.…More

15 startups that raised top VC dollars in the first half of 2013

Venture capitalists’ enthusiasm for ecommerce has tempered in the past six months and it’s showing in the numbers. While investments in the sector have far from dried up, founders of ecommerce companies will tell you that term sheets have become rarer since January. Still, six ecommerce companies managed to make it to the list of…More