Utthishta Yekum Fund, the debut seed fund from Hyderabad-based Utthishta Management Advisors LLP, has invested Rs 25 lakh each in three startups - SmarterSMB, Scanova and Rapport.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi)-registered alternative investment fund, with a fund size of Rs 70 crore, has M Prabhakar Rao, chairman of Hyderabad-based, Rs 5,600-crore Nuziveedu Seeds Limited (NSL Group), as its anchor investor.
SmarterSMB, launched in November 2014 by Bengaluru-based Smarter Biz Technologies Private Limited, is a mobile solution that captures all the digital activity of a business process, right from the first call to the customer to raising the invoices and getting the payments.
Scanova is a product of New Delhi-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) company Trycon Technologies. Founded in 2013 by Mukesh Gupta, Gautam Garg and Swapnil Jain, all graduates of Delhi College of Engineering. Scanova's QR code solutions are now used by over 5,800 registered users in over 90 countries.
"With increasing penetration of 3G/LTE data networks and smartphones, brands now have the option of engaging their target audience via print media using QR codes, and Scanova makes this process easy and cost-effective," said Gautam Garg, co-founder and director (business development) of Scanova.
Rapport is a product of Pune-based Stratawiz Technologies founded by Shabareesh Deepak and Yogendra Sharma. Rapport, which offers a native mobile app and a cloud-based backend portal that helps its clients ensure better communication and collaboration between sales force and management, is currently in private beta. Stratawiz plans to launch the public by the end of September 2015.
Both Scanova and Rapport were selected as part of Nasscom's 10,000 Startup Programme in 2014.
"The fund typically picks up between 10 per cent and 15 per cent stake in very very early-stage startups in exchange of its investments. It holds on to them for at least five years for an exit, and expects 18-19 per cent return on investment from the firms," P Rama Krishna, general partner at Utthishta, had earlier told Business Standard.
