We Founder Circle is primarily an early-stage investor, specialising in writing the first cheque to promising companies. But it has also begun to diversify its investments by taking part in Series A and B growth rounds. With the help of this strategy, the early-stage investment platform can provide its investors with more established and tested businesses, allowing them to manage their risk.

“In addition, we regularly reinvest in our portfolio’s high-growth companies during their funding rounds. We have invested in 17 such startups during the previous year. This year, we have already made 4-5 additional investments,” said Co-founder and CEO Neeraj Tyagi.

Tyagi stated that WFC would prioritise adding more tech startups to its portfolio during times of crisis, especially in industries like SaaS, Climate tech, AI, and Fintech. Although these sectors currently have a lower representation in its portfolio, it has supported numerous promising startups in these fields, including Zypp, Kredily, Banksathi, and Crib.

Tyagi predicted that the environment for entrepreneurs looking for investment would deteriorate during the next several days. The macroeconomic environment and changing funding dynamics, particularly for larger growth rounds like Series B and above, are the main causes of this.

“However, the investment environment for early-stage startups is expected to become relatively easier as India’s angel community is witnessing rapid growth, with an expanding network of angel investors and CXOs from tier 2, 3, and 4 cities,” noted Tyagi.

Tyagi claimed that in the current environment, practically every company must adopt a lean model in order to extend their runway while retaining growth. Founders are conscious of this requirement and are actively taking precautions to safeguard their companies.

“There is a chance that growth stage companies will conduct more bridge rounds. These bridge rounds fill the gap between larger investment rounds and offer additional money to support businesses as they grow. The focus is on giving initial capital to promising startups with high growth potential, thus newer investments are anticipated to be more prevalent in early-stage businesses,” he said.

We Founder Circle stated that it is closely collaborating with the existing investors to explore the possibilities of uprounds, which can bring in additional funding and give its portfolio firms the support they need.

In order to ensure that the businesses are maximising their profitability and sustainable growth, Tyagi explained that “we place a greater focus on improving margins rather than solely pursuing increased sales.”

Stats:

No of Startups Invested in: 78 (in last 2.5 years)

No of Exists: 7 partial exits

Focus Sectors: Climate-tech, SaaS, Agritech, Fintech, Edtech, Healthtech etc.

Fund Size: Invstt Domestic Angel Fund (USD 30 million), Invstt Global Angel Fund (USD 30 million), Avinya VC Fund (USD 60 million, just launched, will start deploying from January 2024)

Ticket Size: USD 250,000 to USD 1.5 million