100X.VC launches corporate venture capital programme for early stage startups

100X.VC, the venture capital firm launched recently by Mumbai-based angel investor Sanjay Mehta, has introduced a corporate venture capital programme that will bring  in corporate partners to invest in early stage startups.

Through the  programme, corporate enterprises can invest in 100X.VC portfolio startups, it said in a statement. 

Launched in July 2019, the seed stage investor has a target to invest in 100 Indian startups over a 12-month period. Ticket sizes will range between Rs 25 lakhs to Rs 1 crore. The sector-agnostic firm, which sources capital from Sanjay Mehta’s family office, will use India Simple Agreement for Future Equity (iSAFE) notes to make investments, which is touted as a more founder-friendly alternative to convertibles.  

Corporate entities who participate in the investment round will benefit by investing in startups that use new technologies while the latter will gain fresh funds and synergies of association of large entities, the statement added.

By 100X.VC’s estimates, India’s top 100 corporations have earmarked anywhere between Rs 10 crore and Rs 100 crores funds for investments in startups. The firm has also built a startup discovery platform for corporates looking for investible startups. 

“Companies do not want to be left out on innovation and new age commerce. While corporations know their own industry, they have very little knowledge on how to access or work with young startups. With huge interest from corporations, we worked to formalise a structured corporate venture capital programme," said Yangesh Sanghrajka, chief financial officer of 100X.VC.

In October 2019, Mehta had said that the fund will soon announce its first cohort of startups from varied sectors such as restaurants, fintech, healthcare, technology.

Set up by Mehta’s family office, Mehta Ventures, 100X.VC is a category 1 alternative investment fund registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

As an angel investor, Mehta has backed over 130 startups such as food delivery platform Box8, hotel aggregator OYO and logistics firm LogiNext.