PremiumMumbai: JSW Ventures, the startup investment arm of steel and energy conglomerate JSW Group, said on Monday that it has appointed Sachin Tagra as a partner, amid plans to mark a first close of its second fund this year.
Tagra joins JSW Ventures from media house Network18 Group, where he headed investments at Capital18, its startup investment arm.
Gaurav Sachdeva, Managing Partner, JSW Ventures said, “Sachin has significant experience in scaling up businesses from their startup phase. This will be crucial as we build and launch a bigger fund as well as support our current portfolio companies in scaling up their businesses."
“Sachin has been an angel investor himself and also mentor start-ups at various incubators and accelerators," he added.
JSW Ventures received approval for the second fund from markets regulator Sebi in August this year. While its ₹100 crore first fund in 2016 was entirely backed by the Jindal family, it is seeking to raise money from external investors for the second fund.
It is an early stage investor, with four portfolio companies so far- regional mobile operating system Indus OS, SaaS-based solutions provider to restaurants LimeTray; beauty products e-tailer Purplle; and refurbished and pre-owned goods marketplace Overcart.
Mint reported on September 19 that Purplle is in talks to raise ₹300 crore in a Series C round led by Goldman Sachs.
Despite a positive fundraising environment, the number of early stage deals (seed and Series A) hit a seven-quarter low, Mint reported on October 3. Volume of Seed and Series A deals, generally defined as early stage, fell for the second straight quarter to 66 deals in the September quarter of 2019, from a high of 100 deals in the first quarter.
Total investment value too, fell for the third straight quarter, from $333 million in Q4 last year, to $216 million last quarter, according to data from Venture Intelligence, a startup data tracker.
