Hyderabad, India, 17th August 2020: Endiya Fund II has received an investment of INR 50Cr from the Nippon India Digital Innovation AIF Fund. The Partnership with Nippon’s Digital Innovation Fund will provide Endiya portfolio companies with financial and strategic support resulting in increased access to growth opportunities and sustainable scalability.
Nippon India Digital Innovation AIF (NIDIA), a Fund of Funds, is a true example of collaboration targeted under the India-Japan Digital Partnership with the encouragement and support of the prime ministers of both countries. It is managed by Nippon Life India AIF Management Limited (NIAIF), a 100% subsidiary of Nippon Life India Asset Management Limited (NAM India). Nippon Life Insurance (NLI) owns 75% of NAM India.
The FoF plans to invest in approximately 15-20 venture capital funds in India. The FoF shall invest across multiple horizontals like robotics & automation, internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence, machine learning, consumer technology, etc & various verticals like manufacturing, EV’s, automobiles, financial services, healthcare, education, eCommerce, retail, pharma, etc.
Endiya Partners is a seed and early-stage venture capital firm investing in IP led Indian product start-ups that are globally relevant. Endiya’s current portfolio includes Darwinbox, Steradian Semiconductors, Kissht, SigTuple, and Myelin Foundry.
Limited Partners in the Fund include financial institutions, corporates, and family offices across India, Europe, and the U.S. Endiya Fund II will seek to invest in 16 – 20 start-ups, with an initial cheque size of US$ 500,000 to US$ 1 million in Seed/Pre-series Rounds and a planned investment of up to $5 million per company.
Founded in 2016 by Sateesh Andra, cardiologist-turned-investor Ramesh Byrapaneni, and Abhishek Srivastava, Endiya added Abhiram Katta to its top deck in 2018 and most recently expanded its Investments team by hiring Dipesh Chawla and Lakshmi Kancharla.
“Endiya has a proven track record of identifying top entrepreneurial talent and helping founders scale the business – from Idea and market validation, team building, business model refinement, customer, and partner acquisition to follow-on funding. We are excited about this partnership and look forward to sharing our resources, particularly supporting Endiya’s portfolio companies in their market development and future financing efforts in Japan through the presence of our investor base.
We believe the partnership between India and Japan is of strategic national importance because it’s a perfect blend of Indian enterprise, its frugal innovation, and software skills with Japanese capital and their hardware prowess. We believe access to “friendly” Japanese capital is paramount to long term growth of Indian start-ups” said Sachin Bid, Fund Manager, Nippon India Alternate Investments.
“We built a strong connection with the NIDIA team even before they invested. We truly appreciate their confidence and support during such surreal times. Apart from Business & Technology Partnership, Strategic Investment, and Exit Opportunities, Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) offers an attractive liquidity option to growing Product Startups” said Sateesh Andra, Partner at Endiya Partners.
Endiya’s investment strategy addresses a funding gap in the venture capital spectrum in India between Angel and Series A investments, enabling entrepreneurs to find a value accretive partner to further the development of their vision to build a sustainable business model. “While industry averages state that 30% of seed deals go on to raise follow on capital, 75% of Endiya’s Portfolio has raised follow on rounds. This affirms the team’s ability to successfully identify and co-create globally scalable early-stage startups”, adds Sateesh.
Endiya Fund II most recently received a commitment of INR 75Cr ($10M approx.) from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group. IFC has also committed an additional US$ 10 million for direct co-investments alongside Endiya Fund II.
About Nippon India Digital Innovation AIF
NIDIA is managed by Nippon Life India AIF Management Limited (Nippon AIF), a 100% subsidiary of NAM India. Nippon Life Insurance (NLI) of Japan owns 75% of NAM India. NIDIA is a Fund of Funds (FoF) investing in India centric early-stage venture capital funds. NIDIA has successfully managed to raise offshore capital, from Japan, for this technology focused FoF. It achieved its first closure in January 2020 and have raised commitments of approximately USD 100mn from marquee Japanese investors.
About Endiya Partners
Hyderabad headquartered Endiya Partners’ is a seed and early-stage venture capital fund that invests in IP led Indian product startups that are globally relevant. Leveraging deep domain expertise along with vast entrepreneurial and operating experience, the Endiya team plays a key role in co-creating scalable (and sustainable) businesses. Endiya’s portfolio consists of disruptive and category-defining companies across Enterprise Technology and Healthcare sectors. The Fund also leverages the teams’ relationships and global presence with an appropriate set of VCs/strategic investors in Silicon Valley/SE Asia for its portfolio companies’ business development and exits.
In Picture: EndiyaTeam-left to right -Abhishek Srivastava, Director_ Dr Ramesh Byrapneni, centre right ateesh Andra, Abhiram Katta,
