Kissflow’s founder floats V-C firm for Tamil Nadu-based start-ups

MudhalVC is planning to invest close to ₹125 crore in two phases over the next 3-4 years. The focus will be on tier-2 and tier-3 cities

Chennai-headquartered, Software-as-a-Service firm Kissflow’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer Suresh Sambandam has floated a Venture Capital (V-C) firm called MudhalVC which will focus on investing in start-ups based in Tamil Nadu. MudhalVC is planning to invest close to ₹125 crore in two phases over the next 3-4 years. The focus will be on tier-2 and tier-3 cities.

“There are a few venture capitalists in Tamil Nadu, as most are based in Mumbai or Bangalore. We aim to bridge this gap in the ecosystem,” Mr. Sambandam, who is also the founder and general partner of MudhalVC told The Hindu.

The concept for MudhalVC originated from Mr.Sambandam’s mentorship work with Idea Pattarai, a Dream Tamil Nadu initiative that fosters mass entrepreneurship in the State, helping early stage founders to build global brands.

He said that MudhalVC has invested across diverse sectors, including Food-tech, Electric Vehicles, Health-tech, SaaS, and Bio-tech. Its portfolio includes companies like Amura, Bversity, BookingBee, MeenSatti, Mushroom MaMa, Pickmyad, Social Gallery, InspectionOne, Bad Boy, Correctmate and Trashbotics among others.

“Our investments range from ₹10 lakh to ₹1 crore,” Mr.Sambandam said. What makes MudhalVC stand out from traditional V-C firms is its readiness to invest time and money in founders even without a formal pitch deck, as long as they have a compelling idea and a committed team. “MudhalVC places a strong emphasis on coaching entrepreneurs before offering capital,” he said.

The phase 1 capital comes from family sources that take away significant risk off the table for phase 2. While MudhalVC is not currently raising capital from Limited Partners (LPs), it plans to partner with LPs after 2-3 years to make follow-on investments in the same start-ups, following a model similar to YCombinator in Silicon Valley. “I have invested the initial ₹25 crore, and we will raise the rest from external sources,” Mr.Sambandam pointed out.

Over the past 24 months, the Idea Pattarai accelerator has connected with 1,000 founders through exclusive workshops, resulting in over 75 start-ups at various stages of mentorship. It may be noted that 15 of these start-ups have already secured investments from MudhalVC.

Published - September 27, 2024 02:48 am IST