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

Opinion: Venture capital’s summit push

It is now my eighth year in succession of claiming a great year for venture capital. I have been in the business for all of eight years. But then, I am also an amateur marathoner and a climber. And in all of these three trades, it takes years of perseverance to scale the summit. As…More

Opinion: Entrepreneurship lessons from AAP

The entire nation today is in a state of shock, of one kind or another, over the performance of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Delhi elections. Having become used to misgovernance and the prior failure of newbies in making an impact in the political arena, AAP’s success has come as a welcome reinstatement of…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

Opinion: Does India need a TripAdvisor for healthcare?

Early last year, when I finally threw in the towel at my workplace, quite a few well-meaning (and possibly alarmed) persons in my circle of family, friends and professional contacts began thinking of ways to keep me gainfully employed. One such person was my other half. My husband is one of those creative geniuses who…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

Opinion: How to be a successful intrapreneur

If you are a decision maker or an influencer in an established corporate organization that faces the challenge of adapting to market changes, you will want to learn about intrapreneurship. It is the process of adopting an entrepreneurial point of view in the context of an existing or established business that intends to reinvent itself.…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