IDG Ventures India looking to back consumer tech & digital media startups

This article is sponsored by IDG Ventures India 

Update: In the light of the overwhelming responses received, IDG Ventures has extended the application deadline for Bengaluru startups to May 26th.

Venture capital firm IDG Ventures India has launched a Digital Consumer Innovators programme to provide assistance to startups across consumer internet and digital media space, including Digital Content / Video / Entertainment, Vernacular / Local languages, content-led commerce models, enabling platforms for consumer tech and consumer mobile applications.

Startups in Consumer Technology and Digital Media looking to raise Seed or Series A rounds of funding can apply to this programme. Applications open on May 13 and close on May 19. Once companies are shortlisted, the IDGVI team will individually meet them in Delhi on May 25th and in Bengaluru on June 1st.

“On each of these days, we will have two tracks of meeting companies based on Seed ($1 million or less) and Series A ($1 million and more) fund,” says Karan Mohla, Executive Director and Head of Consumer Media and Technology at IDG Ventures India Advisors. “A number of entrepreneurs in the consumer technology and digital media space are creating disruptive products and platforms. As an active investor in this emerging space, IDG Ventures wants to give them a platform to raise funds and grow rapidly,” says Karan on the reason behind launching this programme.

If you are interested in being a part of this programme, please apply by providing your details in this form and sending your presentations to [email protected].

IDGVI plans to shortlist 15-20 companies each from the Bengaluru and Delhi meetings. Karan emphasised that this programme is open to startups from Tier-II and III cities as well. The shortlisted companies will be invited to IDGVI’s Bengaluru office on the week of June 6th and the startups will get an opportunity to present to the full IDG investment team. The chosen companies, according to Karan, will then move forward to the funding track.

The selection process involves multiple parameters, including:

• Strong entrepreneurial team
• Cutting edge and disruptive technology
• Potential for rapid scale-up
• Growth target in both domestic and global markets

IDGVI currently has a portfolio of 55 companies including Flipkart, FirstCry, Lenskart, Newgen, Yatra, Zivame, NestAway , Vserv and POPxo. They typically invest in the range of $500,000 to $10 million in sectors like consumer media and tech, software, healthtech and fintech. Co-founder of Infosys, Kris Gopalakrishnan is an Advisor at IDGVI, while Tata Sons’ Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata joined the fund as Senior Advisor last year.

IDGVI has been a prolific early-stage investor in India. In 2015, IDG invested in 32 startups and was among the top five venture capital investors in the country by number of deals. According to YS Research, IDG was the top backer of early-stage companies, making 23 investments that fell in the seed, pre-Series A and Series A categories.

According to a report by PWC, India is expected to outspace overall growth in entertainment and media spending both across Asia Pacific and globally by 2018 taking the number to 6.5 per cent. The number clearly indicates the opportunity that the market is going to create in near future.

While India’s internet-based market is predicted to touch $140 billion by 2020, the internet user base is expected to cross 500 million by 2017. This makes India the second-largest Internet market in the world after China. Non-metro cities, towns and villages have witnessed a 30 percent growth in mobile-based internet usage. Already, this fast-growing market has led to the rise of multi-billion firms like Flipkart and Snapdeal. In recent months, many new consumer internet business models have emerged, from on-demand services to app-based concierge services.

The digital media industry is also seeing a boom, with the launch and funding of a number of startups. YourStory, POPxo, Inshorts, ScoopWhoop, Dailyhunt and Tripoto are just a few of the startups in this segment to raise funding since the start of 2015.