Inventus Capital moves away from tradition, bets on hardware startups

Technology-focused venture capital (VC) fund Inventus Capital Partners, which earlier invested in software-based companies, is now exploring hardware start-ups. The Silicon Valley- and Bengaluru-based early-stage fund has placed bets on BluArmor, which manufactures tech-laden smart motorcycle helmets.

Inventus, along with venture fund Kitven, had led a $1.4-million Series A round in the start-up last month.

“Traditionally, we used to invest predominantly in internet-based companies and stayed away from hardware as India did not have the strength in the segment. Also hardware could be copied by Chinese start-ups as they had stronger manufacturing capabilities. So, most of the VCs stayed away from them,”