Student focused venture capital firm gradCapital launches $1 mn fund

Student focused venture capital firm gradCapital said on Wednesday it has launched a $1 million (Rs 7.3 crore) fund to help graduates grow their ideas into businesses.  

GradCapital said that it will invest $25,000 in each of the 20 startups it will select over the next year. It plans to invest in 100 startups in the next three years. 

GradCapital will launch an eight-week programme for the budding entrepreneurs as part of which they will be trained in various aspects of running a business.  

“We genuinely believe in academic spaces…entrepreneurship is a way to bring such strong ideas to life and create value for society. We are betting on such ideas. With this mission, we help students build the companies of the future,” said Abhishek Sethi, co-founder of gradCapital.  

The company said it has hired associates from across the country and decentralised operations to identify startups. 

“There is tremendous value waiting to be unlocked by students from science, commerce, arts, and engineering colleges. Venture capital firms do not make these bets because it doesn’t fit their risk profile,” Prateek Behera, co-founder of gradCapital, said.  

“…think about a quantum computer or a social music app. These companies often are missed by larger venture capital firms due to a gap in the understanding of emerging technologies, millennial consumers or new kinds of economies,” Behera added.  

GradCapital is supported by CIIE.CO, which is based out of IIM Ahmedabad.