Processing .....please wait.. 
The article has been forwarded.... 
Mentor Partners' first India fund in the offing
By siliconindia
|
Friday, 14 December 2007, 02:18 IST
Bangalore: The early-stage venture capital firm Mentor Partners is raising its first fund for the Indian market. The firm, which focused on mentoring start-ups, will raise an amount between $30 and $50 million, reported The Economic Times.
"We are in the process of raising a full-fledged fund in next six to nine months. This will be between $30-50 million," said Ravi Narayan, Managing Director Mentor Partners. Initially, it will be focused on Indian market but the funds can be used for investing in other Asian markets like Singapore and Malaysia, he added.
Currently, Mentor Partners doesn't have a specific fund for investing. It uses small amounts from a sort of pledged fund or commitment by a consortium of individual investors, similar to Band of Angels. The lead proposition by the firm is the mentoring aspect it brings in for start-ups. It also brings in other VC firms to invest in later stages.
Formed in December 2005, the Bangalore-based firm has invested in seven companies including Ilantus Technologies, Ugenie, Bubble Motion, Atlantis Computing, atOnePlace.com and Elina Networks. It is now in the process of incubating in-house, a firm focused on mentoring SMEs using an IT-enabled platform.
According to Narayan, the new fund being raised will be used for investing in about eight to ten companies.