pi Ventures launches programme on deep tech venture investing

Deep tech-focused early-stage venture capital fund pi Ventures has announced a programme on deep technology venture investing.

The pi Fellows programme is now inviting applications for the six-week-long initiative intended for those interested in exploring a career in venture capital as applied to deep tech investing.

“ The programme is intended for senior folks who aspire to play senior roles (principals, managing director, partners) in a venture fund or launch their own funds. If you are coming from the product, technology, entrepreneurship background looking to get into venture capital or venture investing background looking to pick up experiential learning in deep tech investing, this programme is for you,” a blog post on its website read.

The last date for registration April 17, 2020.

Pi Ventures said it will limit the cohort to just five people to offer a personalised experience.

The eligibility criteria include ten years or more of industry experience; an engineering degree; product, and technology or investing background while consulting or startup experience as a founder or an early team member is a plus.

Selected candidates will be trained on subjects such as fundamentals of venture capital and deep technology investments, deal evaluations, deal structuring and negotiations, live pitching with startups and analysis, running effective boards and working with entrepreneurs, managing exits and raising funds.

Apart from the pi Ventures team, external speakers will run specific topics. 

Alok Goyal, Stellaris Venture Partners; Chirantan Patnaik, CDC Group, UK; Shailesh Lakhani, Sequoia; Prayank Swaroop and Subrata Mitra from Accel; Ruchira Shukla, IFC World Bank; and Shamik Sharma, Cure Fit will conduct training modules on different topics.

The cohort will be announced on April 27 and the program is scheduled to run between May 2 to June 6.

The training and interactions will happen online, or offline if the situation permits, on Saturdays or off office hours, the blog post said. Candidates will need to spend 5-10 hours in a week for their own work.

The programme doesn't charge fees but it encourages participants to consider donations for Covid-19 relief initiatives, in any effort of their choice.

“During the six week programme, one should get an in-depth experience of what a career in VC entails. It will help you gain experiential knowledge and therefore enhance your chances of starting/advancing a career in venture capital and deep technology investing,” according to the blog post.

A certificate of completion will be issued to all the participants.

pi Ventures focuses on investments in applied artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things (IoT). In August 2018, the firm raised Rs 225 crore ($31 million) for its debut fund, exceeding its initial target. The UK government’s CDC Group came in as a limited partner in August.

It is also backed by government-owned small industries development bank of India (SIDBI), Hero Enterprise Investment Office, Electronics India and In Colour Capital. Its portfolio consists of health-tech startups such as Sigtuple, Ten3t, Wysa, logistics firm Locus, business-to-business supply chain platform OweMe and space-technology startup Agnikul Cosmos.