

Is there a YC-like VC in India? - subbu

I am working on a startup idea for the last few months. I have completed about 80% of the product. I have shown it a few friends and the feedback has been pretty good. I now want to approach VC's and raise some money. Not much but to cover these: 1) hosting bills, 2) get a decent visual design for the app, and 3) sustain for a few months. <p>The VC scene in India is a bit different compared to the US. Most of the VCs back established companies or ones with established founders. I am looking for a YC-like firm who can back people with good technical abilities and/or working demos. Any help? I can show a fully functional demo to interested parties. Thanks much.
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prakash
AFAIK, there is no YC like firm in India. That said, there are plenty of angel
investors, VC's, etc.

From a linkedin Q&A on Indian VC scene
[[http://www.linkedin.com/answers/finance-
accounting/financing...](http://www.linkedin.com/answers/finance-
accounting/financing/venture-capital-private-equity/FIN_CFN_VNC/58777-26329)]
1\. US firms in India (Sequoia, Greylock, Matrix, Mayfield, Sherpalo/KP etc.)
2\. Domestic funds (Helion, Nexus and a few others) 3\. Angel groups / funds
(Seed fund, Mentor, Band of Angels)

Good luck!

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subbu
Thanks for the link Prakash. As I said before the VCs listed in the above link
take the traditional route to investing. In a different context I did get in
touch with Band of Angels. But the questions they asked were in the lines of
"how much sales do you have?" "What's the current revenue?" etc. Those
questions suggest what type of companies/teams they would be willing to back.
I am more of a programmer than a person who can answer those questions. I am
looking for someone like PG who can look at the demo I have built and see if
it makes sense and then back the idea. I am expecting the VC to help me with
things like revenue and sales.

If there is nothing like YC, then I guess I'll have to take the hard route of
finding a suitable VC or angel.

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prakash
Try the Seed fund. Erasmic Ventures.

If you are in b'lore ping me via email to chat offline.

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subbu
I am a native of Bangalore but work in Hyderabad currently. Do you mind giving
me your email id? Mine is subramani.athikunte@gmail.com

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rms
You can still apply to YC in the USA wherever you are in the world, but it
might be tricky getting into the USA. I'd still apply; you can hack your way
to a visa later.

There's a lot of room for YC clones in India and the rest of the world, but
there is no South or East Asian YC yet.

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iamyoohoo
it is really difficult to hack into a US visa from India ....

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davidw
I wonder if Europe would be easier in any way. Granted, the economic scene is
not like the US, but it might be worth a shot?

My experience in Europe as a non-European says that it probably isn't any
easier, but who knows - I was dealing with Italy, which is not really what
you're interested in in any case.

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nreece
You may come across some seed funding VC's at proto.in (
<http://www.proto.in/proto2007se/aboutus.shtml> )

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mellampudi
try if this suits ur needs <http://www.nirmalabs.org/>, U will have to leave
your day job and attend their college for few months though!

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subbu
Doesn't suit me.

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ideas101
This may help you as well ...

[http://www.business-
standard.com/smartinvestor/storypage.php...](http://www.business-
standard.com/smartinvestor/storypage.php?leftnm=lmnu6&subLeft=1&autono=295366&tab=r)

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ideas101
If US visa is not possible then you can visit Australia - please visit
following link ...

<http://www.linkedin.com/in/randleebdutoit>

