First Cheque, an early-stage VC, launched its second fund to invest in 50 startups in the next 18 months. The fund, which used to operate as an AngelList syndicate and had invested in more than 100 startups in the past three years, has raised INR 38 crore from global investors for its second fund. The firm will focus on first-time founders and will invest $100,000 in each of its portfolio companies, which is essential for founders to get their business started from scratch.
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"We are looking to back aspirational founders with lesser emphasis on conventional prerequisites such as the educational pedigree, previous funding experience and conviction from other VCs. Our commitment is to foster a support system that can help our founders throughout their journey. It is a small step aligned with Narendra Modi's 'Startup India' initiative," said Prateek Agarwal, investment lead, First Cheque.
First Cheque is an active community of over 200 founders that offers real-time mentorship and solutions for the day-to-day problems that founders face. It has secured deals with more than 50 such enterprises, so far. The firm also plans to onboard undergraduate venture fellows, who will connect the fund with high-potential student startups from their respective colleges. First Cheque worked with more than 20 venture partners during its first fund and added 100 startups to its portfolio through the same, claimed by the company in a statement.
"After the US and China, India has the largest startup ecosystem and First Cheque is uniquely positioned to capture the pre-Seed opportunity here. The comprehensive program, the engaged founder community and the demo day will act as catalysts for first-time founders," said Anand Lunia, founding partner, India Quotient.
First Cheque is a Bengaluru-based pre-Seed stage VC firm. It is welcoming startups from mature sectors such as SaaS, edtech, HRtech and fintech, as well as the emerging ones, including spacetech, gaming, web3 and cleantech.