NuVentures Plans New Fund for AI, Machine Learning Start-Ups

Angel investment fund NuVentures, which was an early investor in Mu Sigma, Scripbox and Ampere, has come out with an open-ended fund dedicated to ventures in Artificial intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), especially in the financial services and healthcare sectors. “We want to make sure that it is the real AI and ML. Today, AI is the buzzword like dot.com. We have a great team and we have identified a few start-ups in healthcare and financial services for funding,” NuVentures Managing Partner Venk Krishnan told. Krishnan had earlier launched a USD 3-million angel fund. He has funded start-ups such as DailyNinja, a hyperlocal delivery venture which delivers groceries and milk at the doorstep; Pocket Aces, a digital entertainment company; Ampere, an electric vehicle company; and Curejoy, an online healthcare and wellness company. “Out of 17 investments from us, 13 have gone on to Series A funding,” Krishnan said.

For the next fund, NuVentures plans to invest between ₹25 lakh and ₹3 crore, and more once the venture takes off. Krishnan said there are a couple of investors who have joined him and more money will be raised if needed. NuVentures was the first to invest in Mu Sigma. “We met at an event and realised that there was tremendous potential in his (Mu Sigma founder Dhiraj Rajaram) idea,” recalled Krishnan. Mu Sigma is now a unicorn and the valuation of Krishnan’s stake has grown by several hundred times. Another NuVentures investee, digital entertainment company Pocket Aces, has now received funding from Sequoia.

Social ventures

NuVentures is now looking at investing in social ventures, especially in the areas of water, energy and environment. It will set aside 20 percent of the money from the exits it makes from earlier start-ups to invest in social ventures. Krishnan said NuVentures picks up anything between 2 percent and 20 percent in its investees. – The Hindu BusinessLine