Mantra Capital launches $60mn fund for tech startups in India

New Delhi, Jan 8 (IANS) US-based venture capital fund Mantra Capital on Wednesday announced the launch of a $60 million fund for tech startups with advanced solutions to solve real-life problems in India as well in global markets.

Veteran entrepreneurs Jay Krishnan, Srikanth Chintalapati and Kevin Jacobs at Mantra Capital launched the fund that has already raised $24 million out of a total of $60 million.

Focused on investing in seed and pre-Series A round startups in food and agritech, circular economy and healthtech sectors, Mantra Capital has already started scouting for startups in India and international markets like the US to make initial investments, it said in a statement.

“The fund will focus on scaling innovative solutions that have rapid acceleration potential and can solve problems locally with a massive global impact,” said Krishnan, Partner at Mantra Capital.

Startups with products and solutions that use advanced technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Blockchain, photonics and robotics will be preferred.

“Our target is to close our first fund by the end of 2020. So far, there have been very few innovations in the agriculture space. But we are seeing an influx of good quality startups that are creating solutions. It presents a fruitful opportunity for the investor community,” said Chintalapati.

Mantra Capital will provide offshore venture services and managed services to global startups. Also, venture services will scout and curate US and Indian startups for corporate innovation scaling programmes that will be launched in the second quarter of 2020.