Upsparks to invest in 100 Start-ups by 2022; to focus on Web 3.0 Fintech

Upsparks, a micro VC firm focused on early-stage investments, has announced its aggressive growth plans under which the firm will add at least 50 start-ups to its already existing portfolio of 50 start-ups, by the end of 2022. With this aim, the firm is aiming to reach Rs 100 crores in investment.

The company aims to close an average of 4-5 deals per month with sectors of focus being Web 3.0, Fintech, SaaS and Consumer Tech. Some of their most notable investments include Pixis, Zypp, BiteSpeed and Decentro.

Upsparks, being a founders-led investor, helps the founder/s solve the most difficult problems faced: these include how to hire the right people in the early stage, going to market, channelizing the energy and bandwidth of the founders, getting to PMF (Product Market Fit) faster than usual, and building the right culture for the start-up. In addition, Upsparks has built fool-proof strategies from the perspective of founder/venture investing, with in-depth intelligence on varied fronts. As a founder-led investment firm, Upsparks works closely with other founders to grow and scale their businesses.

Commenting on the announcement, Mohamad Faraz, Founding Partner, Upsparks said, "We follow a highly optimized system when it comes to the closure of deals as a result of which entrepreneurs feel a high level of security when they approach us with their business ideas. By ensuring that we respond to the start-up's request within a short time period, we are able to close deals at a much higher industry rate. At the seed stage, it is important that a start-up receives the right kind of support, coaching and partnership in order to nurture their growth."

Entrepreneurship in India is at an all-time high with Indian entrepreneurs raising $42 billion in the capital in 2021, according to reports. The technology sector remains to be a key area of focus for VC investments in India with a 3x increase in VC funding from 2020 to 2021. Sectors of interest included Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), e-commerce, banking, and consumer services.

Shivam Prasad, Founding Partner, Upsparks, added, "We have seen great success in the sunrise sectors so far and are keen to expand our portfolio to bring more such start-ups with potential into the fray. It is our belief that tech start-ups will play a key role in achieving India's vision of a $5 trillion economy by 2025. Our founding team has a rich background of successfully starting and running a start-up for a period of 10 years and we bring this experience to the table with our portfolio companies. One of our core philosophies has always been to ensure that we play an active role in our portfolio company's growth."

One of the youngest micro-VC firms in the industry, Upsparks just closed notable deals with companies such as Krypto, Kofluence, Glamplus, Skillovilla, Fello, Money Club and Anar. Upsparks follows an 'active investment' philosophy where the firm works closely with budding entrepreneurs to achieve success. Upsparks enters the funding round during the early stage which entails high risk for the investor and a keen eye for ideas that will make it big. Micro VC investors in India have been playing a significant role in fuelling start-ups at the early seed stage.

According to a report by IVCA, the micro-VC ecosystem has seen steady growth over the years with India recording 89 micro-VC firms in India versus 60 in 2014. Between 2018 and 2020, investments worth US$ 346 M were infused into the start-up ecosystem from micro-VC funds in India. Micro VCs address the funding gap between angel investments where ticket size is low and larger institutional VCs that look for strong product-market fit before investing.