Announcing its entry in the micro VC category in India, Eximius Ventures, headquartered in New Delhi, declared the first close of its $10 million maiden fund today.

While it started in March 2020, the fund now plans to invest $10 million in early stage start-ups with approximately $300,000 equity cheque per start-up.

With over 50 years of cumulative experience, the Eximius team now plans to invest in at least 25-30 emerging start-ups in the next three years. The fund is looking closely at start-ups in edtech, healthtech, fintech, and gaming sectors as well as in high potential industries such as B2B SaaS and online media.

Micro VC as a space is already matured in the US with a 230 per cent increase in the number of micro VC funds closed in 2017 as compared to 2009. The space is still in its nascent stages in India. With the ecosystem expanding and more start-ups emerging everyday, there will be a need for more such agile funds in the near future. These focused funds will need to develop deep knowledge and expertise in notable sectors so as to move swiftly at the same pace as the angel investors and write much bigger cheques compared to individual angel investors with the additional visibility of follow-up on funding.

“As a fund investing in the pre-seed stage, we would primarily focus on addressing funding and accessibility gaps faced by start-ups and extend our support beyond capital to offer unconditional network access, expert guidance, help with future fundraising, and more. I am delighted to share that I have been able to create an Eximius community, which is strengthened by industry experts, thought leaders, and mentors who together create a nexus for founders to scale their start-up,” said Pearl Agarwal, Managing Director, Eximius.

She added, “As a woman entrepreneur myself, I want to create ample growth opportunities for women founders in India and want to set a precedent for them to enable them to become equal partners in building a sustainable economy. Also, as a micro VC fund, we are open to smaller seed investments and are excited about nurturing young talent in the industry. We have seen that founders today are spending a lot of time chasing angel investors and facilitating supporting paperwork. This time can be better utilised in focusing on product development and innovation. This is the gap that we are aiming to bridge in the ecosystem through Eximius.”

As the next step, the fund wants to meet start-ups that have moved past their minimum viable product and have evidence of initial traction. Further, a strong founding team with relevant experience, initial market validation and view on the path to profitability adds additional merit to the entire evaluation criteria.

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