Abstract 

Seedfund is an early stage venture capital (VC) fund focused on Indian companies building enterprises that address the growing Indian economy.  The case traces the creation of the fund, the development of and the rationale for the investment theses for the fund, the way the investment team raised and constituted the funds taking into account the institutional regime governing the VC industry in India.  In particular, it discusses how the investment team developed their investment theses, taking into account the competitive scenario in the market for early stage investing and the competences that they brought to the business.  It also discusses the entire fund life cycle management, namely sourcing of deals, screening of deals, post financing value addition and exits.  As a backdrop, the case provides an overview of the Indian VC and private equity (PE) industry in India.

Learning Objective

The case is intended to help understand the following aspects of the management of venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) funds.

1. An overview of the venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) industry in India.
2. How are VC and PE funds raised and managed in real life in an emerging economy like India?
3. To understand the similarities between the way VC and PE funds function in India and the way they are managed elsewhere in the world and the manner in which they differ in terms of institutional and other contextual factors vis a vis other advanced economies.
4. How do VC and PE funds develop their investment theses as a part of their competitive positioning in the market?
5. How is the management of a VC fund aligned to its investment theses and the capabilities of the fund management team? and

How are investment processes developed to meet the managerial objectives of the fund management team?