AngelPrime invests in two more startups, to expand focus to IoT

Bangalore-based seed-stage VC firm AngelPrime has invested in two unnamed technology ventures. AngelPrime, which typically invests $500,000 (Rs 3.1 crore) each in early-stage technology ventures, will formally announce these investments next month.

"We cannot disclose more details as of now. One of these startups is based out of Bangalore, and the other in Chennai. This is the first time we have invested in a company that is located outside of Bangalore," Sanjay Swamy, managing partner of AngelPrime told Techcircle.in.

Founded in 2011 by Swamy along with Shripati Acharya and Bala Parthasarathy, AngelPrime is investing out of its maiden under $10 million fund. It typically invests in 3-5 startups a year, and is looking to do a maximum of 10 deals with the current fund.​​ ​AngelPrime also offers its startups operational expertise, mentorship and other support including business operations, PR & marketing, finance and legal.

AngelPrime's portfolio companies include cloud telephony startup ZipDial, mobile PoS firm Ezetap, online marketplace for talent discovery and recruitment HackerEarth, online marketplace for asset sellers and buyers SmartOwner, and local web marketing solutions startup Synup.

Kidswear e-tailer Unamia.com, another investee of AngelPrime, had shut down its operations a couple of years ago because of the increasing customer acquisition cost and the dominance of heavily-funded e-com players across multiple categories.

AngelPrime's Limited Partners (LPs) include Mayfield, Chamath Palihapitiya's Social+Capital Partnership, and Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang.

"We are also planning to raise fresh capital for our second fund, but it is too early to disclose more details on this," said Swamy.

To expand focus to IoT

AngelPrime, which has been focusing technology services space, is now looking to broaden its focus to hardware and Internet of Things (IoT) vertical, and is already in talks with a company for a possible investment.

"We don't shy away from hardware, and IoT is an area of focus for us because it offers huge opportunities. We are in talks with some startup in the segment, but nothing has been finalised yet," said Acharya.