Rs 300 crore sanctioned by SIDBI Venture Capital panel for startup funds

Nine fund managers aggregating Rs 300 crore, have received approval from Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi)’s Venture Capital Investment Committee (VCIC). After examining applications from 11 fund managers, SIDBI released an official statement after its meeting on February 11, 2017.

Experts such as Mohandas Pai, Prof. Vaidyanathan, Saurabh Srivastava, Kiran Karnik, Sanjeev Bikchandani and H K Mittal were a part of the VCIC panel.

While this year a total of 30 have been approved at a cost of Rs. 1,112 crore, last year (FY16) 16 funds were approved worth 607 crore. Before that, in FY15, the committee approved 11 funds of a total of RS. 314 crore – showing a hike in the funds being sanctioned.

SIDBI, who is monitoring the government-initiated fund of funds (FFS), constituted the VCIC with the intention to improve the flow of funds that startups receive. With ther current scenario of dwindling VC funding, startups are functioning in cash-strapped business ecosystem.

Sidbi will be pumping funds into Alternative Investment Funds, which in turn, give the startups monetory support – according to the scheme’s guidelines.