Ideaspring makes maiden investment in packaging software startup Karomi

Marking its first investment, early-stage venture fund Ideaspring Capital has put in a little over $500,000 (Rs 3.5 crore) in Chennai-based Karomi Technology Pvt. Ltd, which runs Karomi, a tech startup in the packaging artwork management space.

The investment will power Karomi's international expansion plans, said Naganand Doraswamy, MD of Ideaspring Capital, in a press statement.

Karomi's flagship product ManageArtworks is a packaging artwork management software that helps regulated industries like pharmaceuticals and consumer packaged goods ensure regulatory compliance for their pack labels. The firm, founded by Vilva Natarajan in 2003, currently caters to more than 100 clients across the globe.

"Karomi will get great benefits from Ideaspring Capital's hands-on approach for startups in early stages," Natarajan said.

Angel investors Doraswamy and Prashant Deshpande joined hands with Patni Computers' scions Arihant and Amit Patni, among others, to launch Ideaspring in April 2016. It invests in tech startups operating in the space of machine-learning and deep learning, computer vision and image processing, big data analytics, Internet of Things, augmented and virtual reality, health-tech and fin-tech.

Ideaspring has four general partners, or GPs in industry parlance, including Infosys veterans V Balakrishnan (founder and chairman, Exfinity Venture Partners) and TV Mohandas Pai (chairman, Manipal Global Education Services and Aarin Capital), Rajiv C Mody (owner of Sasken Communication Technologies) and Amit Patni.

Doraswamy is managing director and CEO at Ideaspring while Arihant Patni and Deshpande are managing directors. Suryaprakash Konanuru is chief technology officer at the firm.

Ideaspring Capital, with a targeted corpus of Rs 125 crore, was looking to achieve its first closure of Rs 90 crore within a month of its launch.

The fund plans to invest up to $450,000 (around Rs 3 crore) in early-stage tech startups, besides participating in pre-Series A/Series A rounds where it will pump in up to $750,000 (around Rs 5 crore) as a co-investor. The firm is targeting 4-6 early-stage deals each year for the next three years.