India calling: NRI entrepreneurs flocking back to homeland (Entrepreneur India)

NRIs Returning to India

“The Indian entrepreneurial ecosystem was the triggering point for my return to India in January 2011,” shares Vikram Upadhyaya, Chief Mentor and Accelerator Evangelist, GHV Accelerator. A Graduate from University of Tokyo, Upadhyaya started his entrepreneurial journey way back in 1999. Besides being a serial entrepreneur, Upadhyaya has a diversified experience in handling Japanese offshore projects to global corporate strategy and specialises in new ventures turnaround.

When asked about his decision to return home, Upadhyaya replies, “It was quite a big decision in my life when I and my family decided to relocate to India from a place where we lived for over 15 years, a city that is described as one of the most safe, developed and prosperous destinations of the world - Tokyo.”

In 2008, when Upadhyaya was trying to establish the TiE - Tokyo chapter along with mentoring and investing in Indian start-ups like Druva, Stayzilla, Merinews, IndiaCollegeSearch etc, he met Kanwal Rekhi, who was also visiting Tokyo along with other TiE - Tokyo Founding Members. Also known as the father of Indian entrepreneurship, Rekhi is an Indian-American businessman, venture capitalist, angel investor and an entrepreneur. He is currently serving as the Managing Director of Inventus Capital Partners.

“Over my three days of interaction with him, I realised that if I wanted to do something impactful for the country and empower entrepreneurs, I will have to be in their ecosystem. In 2011, I finally decided to be a part of the change and committed myself towards working to empower the Indian entrepreneurial and start-up ecosystem,” asserts Upadhyaya.

Through Green House Ventures (GHV), Upadhyaya looks to close investments in 10 promising startups from India every year. He plans to put $100K against 20 per cent equity in each startup and complete the acceleration programme, which will help startups close Series A and go global.

For More Details - http://www.ghvaccelerator.com/

Source : EntrepreneurIndia. 

Read More

Angel Investor Vikram Upadhyaya Launches Green House Ventures (GHV) Accelerator (Economic Times)

Entrepreneur and angel investor Vikram Upadhyaya has launched Green House Ventures Accelerator (GHV), which will fund and mentor startups between the incubation and venture capital stages.

"GHV will house startups at pre-venture capital stage but post incubation," said Upadhyaya, chief mentor at GHV who has invested in companies like Druva, Stayzilla, Merinews, IndiaCollegesearch. "They should have gone through an incubator or passed the criteria of an incubation stage, proof of concept, paying customers, revenues, team in place, and validation of the business model." Unlike others in India, GHV does not work on a batch system. Instead, the sector agnostic accelerator will house 10 startups at a time through a yearlong programme. Each startup will get seed funding up to $ 100,000 in exchange for equity up to 20 per cent.

According to Upadhyaya, the accelerator has received interest from 350 startups, of which 10 will be short-listed over the next 10 months. Entrepreneurs are required to be resident at GHV once a month for a week to get mentored. "We took a flexible approach because these companies already have teams in existing locations. Moving them may be difficult," Upadhyaya said. Alongside, startups will work in a controlledenvironment where specific functions like human resource (HR), finance, market research will be provided by a set of predefined vendors identified by GHV.

"Instead of spending time on all this, umbrella services provided will act as a de-facto department for these companies and is optional to startups," Upadhyaya said. Anurag Kapoor, executive director and co-founder of GHV, will head this side of operations. The intention is to help companies ramp up growth, focus on scale, shorten time to get VC funded, and attract higher valuation. So far, GHV has a commitment from four small and midsized domain experts to act as vendors in the space of market research, finance, HR, and public relations. "This program is going to prepare startups to close Series A in 12 months. Some VCs, which are also mentors at GHV, have shown interest to co-invest with funds in Japan," he said. 

For More Details - http://www.ghvaccelerator.com/

Source : Economic Times. 

Read More