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Singapore-based venture capital firm Jungle Ventures has so far invested in around 30 start-ups in Asia including ZipDial (bought by Twitter), Livspace and Tradegecko. It is now in the process of raising its second fund, of $50-150 million. Anurag Srivastava, managing partner and founder, and founding partner Amit Anand talk to Bibhu Ranjan Mishra & Raghu Krishnan, about what it took them to convince Ratan Tata to come on board, and their plans. Edited excerpts:
How did you convince Ratan Tata to become your special advisor?
I (Anurag) interacted with him some 15 years ago while selling a software from PTC for designing the Indica car. It was amazing to see that he had recollection of our interaction. That gave me access to reach out to him. Then we went and met people who are working with him in his new avatar. They presented our story to him and he was quite excited. He liked our work, especially because of our focus on Southeast Asia and South Asia, including India, where he has also made investments.
How long did he take to confirm?
He was very fast, very hands-on. We had detailed discussions with his team, very comprehensive, so that he got a good view of what we are going to do. He is very responsive.
What will be the size of your second fund and focus areas?
The new fund would be multiple times the current one. With the first fund, we experimented on strategies and learnt what is working and what is not. We have not announced the size but it will be between $50 mn and $150 mn. We should announce the exact amount in two weeks.
Our investments focus on tech companies. What we look at are companies with the potential to be region or global category leaders. If you look at India, portfolio companies such as ZipDial, Livspace, Momoe, Pokkt - all of these started in India and went on to become regional in outlook and some went global, like Crayon Data.
Would Ratan Tata put money in your second fund?
His involvement will not be related to any fund.
What is the typical size of investment you do?
Out of our first fund, we ended up making $ 1-2 mn per start-up. The second fund, we have already committed investments in two or three start-ups, each in the range of $2-3 mn.
What is your view about e-commerce companies?
We don't invest in e-commerce companies which are bleeding money. We invest in firms that have gross margins of 45-50 per cent. Two of our portfolio firms in the e-commerce space have shown 50 per cent margins.
