The Bengaluru-based fintech unicorn said it wants to back 10-15 companies every year and could invest up to a million dollars in each. The company has a target of investing in at least 50 startups through this programme.
Razorpay Venture Investment Programme, as it is named, will scout for opportunities in sectors like fintech, travel, healthcare, hospitality, retail and ecommerce. But the company intends to invest only in business-to-business (B2B) startups. The Reserve Bank of India-licensed payment aggregator believes that India will see 10-15 B2B unicorns getting created over the next five years.
“The investment amount should be around $500,000 and it could go up to a million. The idea is to invest in early-state B2B focused companies, which could help Razorpay’s clients in their business operations as well,” said Harshil Mathur, Razorpay’s chief executive.
Peak XV Partners and Lightspeed have partnered Razorpay for this programme and will co-invest in these funding rounds. Mathur said Razorpay will scout for companies and evaluate them, while Peak XV Partners and Lightspeed can help in subsequent late-stage funding rounds.
“We can provide mentorship, support, guidance to the early-stage founders, we will also offer them our suite of products at a discounted price,” Mathur added.
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Razorpay has set up a three-member team for scouting and evaluating startups under Vishnu Acharya, head of corporate development and strategy at the company. Mathur said the founders and the Razorpay leadership will be involved in the final decision around investments.“Some of the startups are already under evaluation….While we have not made any investments as of now, we hope to start the deal flow over the next couple of months,” Mathur said.
Razorpay joins a list of many tech companies which have set up funds or programmes to invest in startups. Zerodha runs a fund through its Rainmatter initiative. InfoEdge is an active investor in tech startups and has backed several new-generation unicorns.
