Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, early-stage investment activity has been resilient, with a substantial increase in the average deal sizes and funding rounds closing in record time.
Entrepreneur First (EF), the UK-based global talent investor, has announced investment in six cutting-edge tech start-ups from India. With the latest funding, EF has invested in 34 tech start-ups in the country since its launch in India in 2019.
Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, early-stage investment activity has been resilient, with a substantial increase in the average deal sizes and funding rounds closing in record time. In fact, start-ups in EF’s India portfolio, such as ImmunitoAI and NeuroPixel, have gone on to raise follow-on rounds within few months of the pre-seed investment.
EF’s latest ‘Investor Reveal’ introduced six promising start-ups to top early-stage investors in the country. From genomics-based diagnostics technology for faster, more accurate and affordable Covid testing to NLP-based in-site search engine for online commerce and AI-powered music creator tool for video and podcast content creators, young entrepreneurs at EF are working on impactful solutions to compelling real-world problems.
Esha Tiwary, General Manager, India at Entrepreneur First said, “India is now producing some of the world’s most innovative technology solutions, and these latest entrepreneurs from EF India are leading that charge. They are building some of the most cutting-edge innovations I’ve seen, while attacking ambitious global problems. It’s exciting to see how fast these young entrepreneurs move, turning today’s adversity into opportunity and taking advantage of changing consumer behaviours.”
The great Indian tech start-up story continues to grow and lead India’s vision to be a 3 trillion-dollar economy. From D2C to cryptocurrency, and music to healthcare, India’s success with start-ups is redefining the way we look at technology for greater good. According to a recent report, segments like D2C are expected to grow to $100 billion by 2025, thanks to increased digital adoption across India. Tech start-ups, such as Omniflo are tapping these opportunities to enable fast and efficient offline retail distribution for online-first and D2C brands. Similarly, an easy-to-use investment platform, Flippy, which provides actionable signals for users to invest in cryptocurrencies is tapping the opportunities presented by the growing cryptocurrency space in India. As per a report, around 15 million Indians are believed to have made investments in private cryptocurrency holdings in the last few years.
The pandemic has, no doubt, accelerated India’s efforts with innovation, driven by technologies that help make businesses more agile, flexible, and responsive. As these technologies continue to complement and augment human capabilities, the potential for growth and innovation is huge.
While Zolnoi holds the promise of helping manufacturing companies reduce downtime and improve productivity significantly through its AI-first, end-to-end maintenance management platform, D-NOME is making genomics-based diagnostics affordable and accessible for all. In fact, it has already been successful in making Covid testing faster, more accurate and affordable as compared to the RT-PCR testing, with its D-Lamp technology.
As a global talent investor, with a presence in six global markets, EF has built over 300 tech start-ups with a worldwide community of over 3000 entrepreneurs, and a portfolio that is valued at over four billion dollars. In India, EF has supported more than 250 ambitious entrepreneurs and invested in 34 tech start-ups since its inception in January 2019.
Source: Business World
