Last year, flamboyant Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh launched his own venture capital firm named YouWeCan Ventures with an aim to support online start-ups and encourage entrepreneurship with angel funding. Now, the firm is planning to launch its own incubator soon.
Nishant Singhal, Director, YouWeCan Ventures, said,
We want to be a 360 degree fund. Usually, you see funds taking a step up and trying to invest in larger ticket sizes. We want to take a step back and get in on the ground floor.
The VC firm is planning to invest in around 30 companies in the next three months and wants a portfolio of 70 companies by the end of 2016-17. Once the company “graduates” from the incubator, the firm will put in seed investment to “help entrepreneurs continue their growth”.
The exits for the early-stage investment firm will come once the company reaches the stage of Series C and Series D rounds of capital investment.
The firm usually invests in the seed funding round and deals with companies having an established product. Now, the firm wants to help make products that would be country-independent and could be scaled up faster.
At the incubation facility, it will be providing office space, high-speed Internet connections and mentors. Along with that, the incubator will provide fledgling companies access to top-end law firms. The firm’s network of mentors consists of Vijay Shekhar Sharma of Paytm and Rahul Yadav, founder and former CEO of Housing.com.
Commenting about incubator and risk associated with it, Nishant says:
There are just 4,000 angels in the country. There is a need for more incubators. Someone to help entrepreneurs prepare a product. We know there is a much bigger risk than in seed investment, but with risk comes bigger rewards. We will add more mentors from our seed fund’s portfolio companies as time passes.
YouWeCan Ventures’ portfolio companies includes Vyomo, Moovo, Healthians, Cartisan, Black White Ornage Brands, among others. Its most recent investments include JetSetGo and SportyBeans.
