Bengaluru: Pimco Japan’s former Managing Director Makoto Takano has committed to invest Rs 30 crore in the Indian startup ecosystem through Gurgaon-based Green House Ventures (GHV) Accelerator. GHV , founded by Vikram Upadhyaya in 2014, funds and mentors startups between the incubation and venture capital stages, and provides them resources as well as funding between $100,000 and $300,000. Takano, who had held senior roles also at Goldman Sachs and Daiwa Securities earlier, brings with him expertise in fundraising and ecosystem building from his stint in the investment management firm.

“I visited India in 2016 in order to understand the Indian market bet ter and the potential it has to offer. I believe, with the intellectual capital India has, along with the strong innovation empowerment ecosystem where GHV is playing a key role, India is poised to be one of the leading economies especially in the new innovation space,“ said Takano.

Earlier, World Innovation Lab (WiL), a US-Japan venture capital firm, had committed to invest a similar amount in GHV Accelerator’s portfolio.

GHV, along with WiL and Takano, had in July 2016 announced the launch of a Rs 350-crore fund to invest in early-stage Indian startups focused on consumer technology, such as health tech, fintech, adtech and B2B marketplaces.

The latest commitment from Takano is independent of the 2016 initiative.

“We are expecting to launch (the fund) this year by bringing Japanese Limited Partners. It (the fund) will invest anywhere between $2 million and $4 million per startup and we would be investing in 10-15 startups,“ said Vikram Upadhyaya, the Chief Mentor at GHV Accelerator.

Image Courtesy: Dealcurry

Source: The Economic Times