Bangalore: Silicon Valley-based Tandem Capital, an accelerator founded in 2007 for startups in the mobile space, is launching an India-focused fund that plans to invest in 20 startups in the country over the next one year.
The California-based accelerator has roped in Manipal Education and Medical Group CEO Ranjan Pai and the company's chief advisor T V Mohandas Pai as partners who will co-invest in the fund, which will be Tandem's third. Sunil Bhargava, co-founder, and Rohit Bhagat, partner in Tandem, who met TOI in Bangalore, said they would not be able to disclose the fund size immediately. They said they would add more partners in India soon.
With India on the cusp of a mobile revolution, the opportunities to develop consumer-focused mobile technologies are seen to be huge. "For millions of Indian consumers who missed the PC revolution, the explosion of smartphones gives access to computers in their pockets," said Bhargava. India is the second-largest mobile phone market with a total of 861 million mobile connections as of February, as per data from telecom regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India ( Trai).
Tandem, started by Bhargava and Doug Renert, both technology entrepreneurs, utilizes what it calls `muscle capital' to take forward the ventures it supports. Tandem's partners work closely with startup founders to get a minimum viable product to market quickly, providing hands-on support in areas such as strategy, product design, technology, user acquisition, recruitment and channel development.
Bhargava has twenty years of deep technology experience and worked in Xerox PARC, HP, Oracle, Webvan and Business Signatures. Renert has a similar tech experience in building and helping startups at Oracle, DLA and Tello.
The mobile accelerator invests in about 12 companies every year. Its partners do not mentor more than three companies at any point. The accelerator has invested in Pune-based Quadnode and Bangalore-based gaming portal Bash Gaming.
Tandem invests about $200,000 in each mobile startup and works closely with the team for an initial 6-month period. However, it could support a venture beyond the seed stage to series A and B rounds. "In India, we may have to handhold companies for a longer period," said Bhagat, who previously worked as the chairman of investment management company BlackRock's Asia Pacific region.
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