Omnivore Capital

Omnivore Capital backed by Godrej invests in agro tech start-ups at early stage.The team includes Atish Babu of Nexus Venture partners, Mark Kahn of Gogrej Agrovet. Focus areas:  

   Agricultural Financial Services,  Agriculture Services, Animal Science, Aquaculture & Mariculture, Biofuel Biotechnology, Farm Equipment, Plant Science, Water management etc .

Investment will be $1M to $3M in Series A/B rounds.

Details: http://www.omnivorecap.com/Omnivore_Capital/Investments.html

International Investor Form:Destination India 2010

Genius Incubator, UK is organizing an International Investors Forum: Destination India on November 11th and Smart Money & Genius Ideas on November 12th at Taj President, Mumbai.

Day 1 will bring together key decision makers from the European and Indian PE and VC diaspora to debate and define the future of venture investing in India. Day 2 will showcase hand-picked investment opportunities to global investors and HNWIs. Details:

http://destinationindia2010.com/home/agenda

BASF Venture capital

BASF Venture Capital invests between one and five million Euros per venture in young start-up companies who stand out due to their ground-breaking technology.Start-ups working in these areas can contact them:

• Energy management: new materials and technologies to transform, safeguard or store energy
• Energy management: organic electronics for flexible displays, OLED-Lighting, Batteries, Organic photovoltaic (OPV), printable eletronics
• MedTech: surface treatment for medical systems
• Green Biotechnology
• Industrial Biotechnology for new products
• Raw Material Change: sustainable production of chemical intermediates based on renewable resources
• Nanotechnology: material with novel properties and applications.

They concluded 573 deals in 2008 and Indian start-ups had a share of 3%.

Read the equity story.

TiE-ISB connect 2008

The TiE-ISB Connect '08 will be held on November 5th, 6th and 7th, 2008 at the ISB campus in Hyderabad. Important dates:
Executive summaries due : 15th June 2008
Mentoring sessions: 1st August 2008
Business plans due:15th October 2008
Business plan presentation:5th November 2008

NASSCOM IKP Innovation Fund

NASSCOM and ICICI Knowledge Park have announced details of NASSCOM ICICI Innovation Fund (NIIF) to stimulate technology innovation in India through providing seed capital funding for opportunities in emerging technologies. The fund corpus will be Rs. 100 crores in the initial round, with an expansion of another Rs.100 – 150 crores in additional rounds.

The fund seeks to provide seed capital to any company involved in IP creation in specific sectors. The criteria based on which a company can qualify for investments from the fund are:

1. The company must be based in India
2. The business activity must have a focus on IP creation
3. The company must be operating in one of the following sectors:
   * Automotive Infotronics
   * Life Sciences
   * Wireless
   * Medical Devices
   * Intelligent transport systems
   * Energy conservation technologies and devices

While there is no restriction on the age of the company, the fund will encourage companies that have been incorporated in the last couple of years or that have recently ventured into IP creation projects.

proto-January

proto showcasing Indian start-ups is having its next show in January 18-19th at Asiana Hotel, Chennai. Registration is now open. Vijay Anand reports participation of VCs Mentor Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Ventureast, Lightspeed Ventures, Helion Ventures, Nexus India Capital, Silicon Valley Bank. Writing about status of 40 odd start-ups that participated in 2007, the organizers cited several successes like Tenmiles Corportaion, Vyasya, Sloka telecom, Inasra, Lxigo.

Fund for Accelerating Start-ups in Technology (FAST)

There has been much discussion on the need for an early stage fund. DSIR has now come up with this FAST program. Interested start-ups can write to asraoatnicdotin. Or post comments at
http://myangelfund.wordpress.com/

VCs fund new building system

Do VCs fund innovations in civil engg?
ConXtech, a start-up in USA, receives VC fund for its business model based on innovative way of constructing multi storied building.

During the field assembly process, ConXBeams are lowered and locked into place between ConXColumns from the top down. The ends of beam connectors immediately and easily lock into place resulting in an instant stable connection…

After the structure is assembled, high-strength bolts and custom washers filled with fluorescent orange silicon gel that squirts when the pre-load reaches the desired tension are inserted diagonally into the four corners of the adjoining outer-collar plates on all SMRSF connections. A hydraulic torque wrench is then used to tighten the bolts…

source: Venture Beat

TiE entrepreneurial summit

This is coming up as a major event from 11th to 13th December, Taj Palace Hotel , New Delhi. Dataquest awards are planned on 11th at 1915 hrs. Building India is the theme. An unique opportunity for entrepreneurs to meet VCs and network.

20 worst VC investments

Learn from failures? Take a look at ventures that bombed. CRM news letter lists 20 worst VC investments with VC investment ranging from $360 million in Amp'd Mobile to $20 miilio Digi Scents.

Siemens Venture Capital India Innovation Program

Siemens is a leading infrastructure solution provider active in areas of Energy and Environment Care, Healthcare, Automation and Control, Industrial and Public infrastructure, Lighting, Automotive, and Information Technology. Siemens Venture Capital intends to act as a catalyst to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in these sectors in India. It invites business proposals from Indian entrepreneurs and innovators. Competition open to entrepreneurs, innovators and research scientists based in India.

Deadline for submission of preliminary business proposal:Friday, November 30, 2007

Contact:Rajesh.Vakil@siemens.com

Investor Forum 2007-green investments

Investor Forum is important green investment platform, wherein the selected entrepreneurs are given an opportunity to present their business plans to a panel of qualified professionals from the Indian financial community. It is an event for Investor's and SMEs to interact for buying and selling of green business ideas.New Ventures India is organizing its second annual Investor Forum at Hotel Taj Lands End, Mumbai on 16 & 17 November 2007. Interested innovators can contact :
Anil Kumar Gade, anilkumar.gade@ciionline.org. Web links:
http://www.newventuresindia.org/nvi/Content/forum2007.jsp?eventid=1430

Google invests in in Ventureast TeNet Fund II

Ventureast TeNet Fund is managed by Ventureast Fund Advisors India Ltd. The fund began with a corpus of $15 million with a mandate to finance start-ups in the telecom and IT industries. Ray Stata, Chairman and co-founder of Analog Devices of the US, had invested $10 million alone in Fund I. The TeNet group of IIT, Chennai, is the technology advisor, while Sarath Naru of APIDC is one of the co-founders of the fund. It typically will invest $2.5 million $10 million in an early stage venture.Now, Google acquired 30 per cent in Fund II for $3.75 million.
TeNet, Analog devices and Google make a formidable combination.
Source: VC Circle

The TiE – ISB Connect 07

The TiE – ISB Connect 07, is scheduled at the ISB during November 14, 15, 16 2007. There will be discussion tracks on diverse sectors including The Mobile Convergence, Life sciences and Health Care , Security and Biometrics, Retail Industry ,Real Estate and Infrastructure & New Media and Entertainment. Each track will have a keynote address by a successful entrepreneur, a review of global trends in the sector by an analyst, and a panel discussion by venture capitalists and successful entrepreneurs on sector opportunities. Entrepreneurs seeking opportunities in these sectors may attend the event as delegates. The entrepreneur community can also benefit from two specific opportunities:

· Investor Pitch – Presenting your project to potential investors.

· Jumpstart your venture – Workshop preparing the aspiring entrepreneur for an exciting journey

Entrepreneurs intending to participate in the investor pitch may please send in a five page summary of business plan (Executive Summary), to

TiE-ISBConnect07@isb.edu before July 31, 2007. Please visit www.tie-isbconnect.com for further details of the event.

Motilal Oswal Venture Capital Advisors Private Limited (MOVCAPL)

Motilal Oswal Venture Capital Advisors Private Limited (MOVCAPL) , a subsidiary of Mumbai-based Motilal Oswal Financial Services, is investing in existing SMES. This private equity fund recently raised $42 million of a proposed $100 million. The deal size will be around $5 million . Read the interview at India Knowledge Wharton.

Erasmic Venture Fund

Most VC funds are too big for start-ups. Filling the gap for small fund is Erasmic Venture fund. Small Device Technologies is one such supported start-up. More information on Indian entrepreneurial eco system is available in article on Sai Gundavelli in Business Week.

Proto-in

For technology startups to showcase their products / technologies and attract VC capital Proto-in is emerging as an important event. The next gathering is scheduled on July 21st & 22nd at Chennai. For details see http://www.proto.in/.