Early-stage start-up investor Venture Catalysts said it has plans to invest around ₹1,000 crore in about 150 start-ups in 2021.
The company has made investments in 102 Indian start-ups this calendar year.
“Despite the pandemic, investments into the start-up ecosystem continued indicating the massive opportunity the segment holds. We are quite optimistic about 2021 and expect to invest around ₹1,000 crore in about 150 start-ups across sectors such as DeepTech, B2B SaaS, FinTech, AI, Robotics and other futuristic technologies,” Venture Catalysts co-founder Apoorva Sharma said in a statement.
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The company expects growth in the next year to come from start-ups in small towns of the country.
Technology space
Sharma said that while technology space will be the main focus of the investment, Venture Catalysts (VCats) will not shy away from the conventional sectors such as FMCG, food and beverages, and entertainment.
“These sectors are core and evergreen sectors. We typically invest around ₹3-15 crore in a start-up and we will continue investing in a similar range. India’s start-up space is going to witness a major revolution next year,” Sharma said.
With 102 deals, VCats has become the third active accelerator and incubator globally, according to industry reports.
“VCats, which is focussed on strengthening the start-up ecosystem in the smaller Indian towns, has invested over ₹700 crore through a syndication in several idea-stage and early-stage businesses across sectors this year, vis-a-vis ₹500 crore in 2019,” the company statement said.
The firm witnessed a 33.3 per cent increase in the number of cumulative exits and liquidity events at 36 deals in 2020, the statement said.
In August this year, Oyo’s founder Ritesh Agarwal joined hands with VCats as an advisor and mentor.