Club Ah! launches seed funding network, invests under $100K in uFaber

Club Ah!, a network of around 280 investors, has launched its seed funding network called Ah! Seeders. Focused solely on very early stage companies, the network has also announced its first investment in Mumbai-based uFaber Edutech Pvt Ltd, which owns and runs uFaber, an online marketplace for courses on professional skill-development. The network has put in Rs 37 lakh in the startup that will be used for product development.

uFaber is an online platform where people can learn professional skills and take vocational courses. Users can learn from individual resources, engage with experts, participate in projects and courses with them and interact with peers.

"uFaber marketplace will host a variety of online and offline courses from experts and will also aim to disrupt the skill development market by democratising the process," says Rohit Jain, co-founder, uFaber. The startup will use the funds in developing the product and aggregating the experts as well as the courses.

The newly launched seed fund ah! Seeders aims to invest in very early stage companies with strong founding teams. "Unlike the West, angels in India have become extremely risk averse. They no longer look at companies unless they have been in operation for a few years with moderate revenues to flaunt," said Harshad Lahoti, founder and CEO of ah! Ventures. ah! Seeders is focused on pre-revenue stage companies and will be investing in the range of Rs 25-50 lakh as soon as the promoters have their companies incorporated and the business plans ready.

Earlier this year, Mumbai based online crowd-funding platform Ketto Online raised angel investment of Rs 77 lakh from Club ah! In October last year, members of Club ah! invested Rs 1 crore in Chennai-based educational technology startup Harness Handitouch Pvt Ltd.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)