Government Investment for Startups under Funds of Funds Scheme

According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced as part of the Startup India Initiative “Funds of Funds” in 2016, had committed $7,385 crore to 88 Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) as of September 24 of this year.

The ministry added that these AIFs had also contributed 11,206 crores to 720 start-up businesses. FFS was introduced with a corpus of 10,000 crores, and it has been crucial in bringing in domestic funding for the Indian startup ecosystem.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) will provide financial support for the corpus amount for the course of the 14th and 15th Finance Commission Cycles (FY 2016-2020 and FY 2021-2025), according to a statement from the Commerce Ministry.

The support has been enlarged to SEBI-registered AIFs under FFS, which has not just made funds available for startups at the early stage, seed stage, and growth stage but also performed a catalytic function in terms of facilitating the mobilization of domestic capital, limiting dependence on foreign capital, and stimulating home-grown and new venture capital funds.

It continued on to list some of the well-known startups sponsored by FFS, including Dunzo, CureFit, FreshToHome, Jumbotail, Unacademy, Vogo, ZosTEL, Zetwerk, etc.

On the other hand, significant AIFs of top startup investment companies funded by FFS include Chiratae Ventures, India Quotient, Blume Ventures, IvyCap, Waterbridge, Omnivore, Aavishkaar, JM Financial, and Fireside Ventures. The corpus target for the AIFs financed by FFS is more than 48,000 crores.

According to the government, the amount committed under FFS has increased significantly over time, exhibiting a CAGR of more than 21% since the scheme’s introduction.