Venture Catalysts, the seed investment & innovation platform, has secured an undisclosed amount from Zaffiro Ventures. VCats was valued at INR 40 crore during the investment process.
The platform recently expanded its operations into Surat to an extremely positive response and will be looking to establish its physical presence in five cities in 2016 with an aim to expand to five more cities in the next two years.
Regarding the investment, Dr Apoorv Ranjan Sharma, Co-founder, Venture Catalysts, said, “Our aim, ever since our launch, has been to support and augment the growth of promising start-ups across the country. The investment from Zaffiro will not only help us in expanding to multiple cities across India and promote entrepreneurship beyond the metropolitan and tier-1 geographies, but will also allow us to access industry insights and business acumen gained by individuals such as Revathi Roy and Jagdish Gothi. This will add great value to our business approach and allow us to reach newer heights.”
VCats has already enabled seven investments into high-value start-ups. Through its association with ZaffiroVenture Catalysts will also be looking at mobilizing local HNIs as mentors and investors by connecting them to global ideas developed by disruptive start-ups under incubation at VCats. The platform already has over 600 angels as a part of its investor network and is looking to add 100 new angels in the next few months.
Venture Catalysts will also be looking to leverage the strong industry relationships enabled through Zaffiro to augment its own array of strategic partnerships with the likes of Cox and Kings, HDFC, Plug and Play etc. By giving its investee start-ups access to some of the biggest corporate companies in India, VCats aims to increase their chances of success by enhancing business opportunities.
