Ncubate backed start-ups to raise $45 million this year

Three of the 14 start-ups backed by Ncubate Capital Partners will collectively raise around $45 million over the next three to four quarters. A proprietary investment fund by SAR Group that invests from its balance sheet, Ncubate has pumped in $25 million for a minority interest in these start-ups investing between $1 million to $3 million each.

Spaking to DNA Money, Rakesh Malhotra, founder of Ncubate Capital and SAR Group, said, this year three start-ups from his portfolio of investee firms will be raising their next round of capital. “These ventures are now ready for large capital raise, and collectively will raise around $45 million,” said Malhotra.

Of the three ventures, the first one is dDriven, an industrial internet of things (IoT) and data analytics start-up launched in January 2016 based out of Singapore. It also has an India subsidiary with a development centre in Gurgaon. Its clients include large industrial petrochemical companies like Shell, Rolls Royce, Hanwha Total, Singapore Refining Company, Idemitsu Kosan, Essar etc.

“dDriven will raise around $10 million for investing in further product development. They are at the cutting edge of the industrial analytics and IoT technology,” said Malhotra.

The second one is Lock The Deal (LTD), which is in the business-to-business (b2b) e-commerce play for distribution. “This platform offers everything from information, transaction, credit and logistics. With just about $4.5 to $5 million of investment, the platform is clocking monthly revenues of $3 million and that’s a very interesting number for a 15-month old start-up. They are out to raise around $15 million and will be the first to close the investment,” said Malhotra.

LivFinis, a tech-enabled lending platform for retailers, is the third firm.

“We have put in about $6 million in this company and are nine months away from a sizeable fundraise of anything between $15 to $20 million,” said Malhotra.

On whether Ncubate will participate in this round of fundraise, Malhotra said, it will depend on the requirement by incoming investors. “We have the dry powder ($25 million) and will participate in whatever way it is felt necessary,” he said.

Malhotra said the fund mainly focusses on co-creating businesses with entrepreneurs.

“We invest money like any other venture capital firm, but that’s not really the character of the fund. The team is largely operational/ entrepreneurial and not so much financial. We have very few investment guys but many operational people in the team. The bias is towards helping the entrepreneur build the company. As a result, we enter very early and work with only those entrepreneurs who feel we can be a good partner,” said Malhotra.

The company essentially operates with a co-founder mindset offering patient capital and strong entrepreneurial input for co-creation, he added.