{"id":1660,"date":"2019-10-17T15:58:58","date_gmt":"2019-10-17T10:28:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/razorpay.com\/learn\/?p=1660"},"modified":"2025-01-07T12:03:46","modified_gmt":"2025-01-07T06:33:46","slug":"venture-capital-investment-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/razorpay.com\/learn\/venture-capital-investment-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Venture Capital Guide: The Investment Universe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When an entrepreneur initiates a project to seek, develop and validate a scalable <a href=\"https:\/\/razorpay.com\/learn\/what-is-a-business-model\/\">business model<\/a> to fruition, it becomes a start-up. They also refer to new businesses that intend to grow beyond the tag of a founder, have employees, and rise.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But amidst all the hype and hoopla of being the boss and running your own company, a start-up needs money to kickstart.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Know <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/razorpay.com\/learn\/register-startup-india-procedure-eligibility\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">how to register a startup in India<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So what do you do? You pitch your idea to certain people who remain behind the screen\u2013 decision-makers and risk-takers, who validate your business model. They are Venture Capitalists (VCs).<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Who are venture capitalists<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Definition: Well-heeled investors often invest their capital in businesses with indelible growth opportunities. The infused capital is called venture capital, and the investors are known as VCs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By nature, VCs sail with risky investments or new businesses, which is adequate to hand-out high returns if they figure out the right venture.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Or there\u2019s also an amount of risk substantial enough to scare off banks!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To ensure the money is well spent, VCs have the authority to leverage crucial decisions of the companies they are investing in.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Understanding venture capitalists<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">VCs are usually composed as limited partnerships where partners invest in the VC fund. It constitutes of a committee that is responsible for making investment decisions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here\u2019s an icebreaker: In contrary to popular opinion, VCs do not fund start-ups from the beginning. They often look for a strong management team and review the potential market, and unequalled products or services with a robust vying edge.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most VCs also give preference to industries that they are familiar with. Click <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/razorpay.com\/learn\/venture-capitalists-funding-startups\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to read more.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Also, like every great marketing and sales, the startup pitch ballgame starts before you dance\u2013 it\u2019s inception is research.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But make it one memorable pitch, they said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Well, memorable doesn\u2019t always translate to profitable. Because, in reality, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/razorpay.com\/learn\/venture-capitalists-funding-startups\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Venture Capitalists<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> often hear plenty of pitches every week.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And, if you want to be on the front-page of their list, it is essential to learn a step-by-step strategy for pitching to VCs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s get started.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Go on a fishing expedition<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Before you present, it is always essential to do some groundwork on the person that you are going to meet. Here are some tips:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Decode their interests<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Enquire if the VC has any expertise in your area. And, improvise your pitch based on their background knowledge<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Find out their priorities\u2013objectives, goals and roadmap\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Make sure that you are talking to the right people who\u2019d invest in you. Understand the logistics and their fund size because if the firm is towards the end of their fund, they will be selective in handing out cheques<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Don\u2019t play by the rules<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the year 1976, Lynyrd Skynyrd was about to open for The Rolling Stones. Now the popularity of the Stones was way too much to handle for the lesser-known southern rock band.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As popularly said: \u201cOpening for the Stones was like standing in front of a firing squad.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynyrd Skynyrd was asked to complete their set within 45 minutes. Yeah, 15 songs altogether<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So they shortened their setlist and interacted with the audience\u2013maddening guitar solos, callbacks, sing-alongs, crowd jumping and the infamous tongue walk.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This incident is a Rock n Roll Memorabilia. So before you walk into the room, improvise.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Or ask them: What\u2019s that one important thing you want me to cover?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Depending on their answer, you gain an extra set of eyes on their interest. This is where you set the timbre of the conversation, and the chance to give them the best, most authentic impression of yourself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You got that, right?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Read more: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/razorpay.com\/learn\/startup-vc-funding-pitch\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">5 Steps to Pitch to a VC<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Generally, VC firms aim to invest in high-risk projects with the anticipation of high returns, and the funds provided by them is called venture capital.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But providing monetary support to startups and new ventures come with a price. For higher growth opportunities, the possibilities are endless; at the same time, it\u2019s risky business, too. Regardless of the difficulties, there are many Venture Capital (VC) firms that provide the necessary push to new ventures.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, Y Combinator, Sequoia, Tiger Global Management and Matrix Partners, to name a few.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>What are Venture Capital funds?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Venture Capital Funds (VCF) is a stock of money established in the form of a trust or company registered with SEBI.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The VCF will have a dedicated pool of capital, raised in a specified manner and invested by following regulations of SEBI.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A pool of money stocked together from different investors that a fund manager invests into selected startups is called VC funds.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An ideal VC organization manages about $100 to $200 million in venture capital every year for its investors. The fund gets divided between many startups, but in some cases, the money is pumped into a single company.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 \u00a0 [Suggested reading: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/razorpay.com\/learn\/startup-funding-in-india-an-overview\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Startup Funding in India<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">]<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Who invests in Venture Capital funds?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most of the capital that a VC firm invests comes from Limited Partner investors or LPs, who are high net worth individuals and institutional investors.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The nature of LP investors can vary widely, but the bulk of the capital in the VC ecosystem comes from large institutions or Institutional investors.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Institutional investors: Large institutions like endowment and pension funds, hospitals, charitable trusts, and corporations, who invest their capital to achieve a certain percentage of interest<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whereas, a modest portion of the overall capital in the VC ecosystem comes from high net worth individuals.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">High net worth individuals: They are people with a net worth of over $2 million in liquid assets who invest their wealth.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Who manages Venture Capital funds?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">VC firms employ competent managers who are responsible for running the funds invested by LPs (high net worth individuals or institutional investors).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The fund managers or general partners are responsible for investing the wealth in profitable startups, which guarantee a favourable ROI and maximize returns for the LPs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other responsibilities of the general partners:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Raise funds from LPs<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Source innovative startups<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Invest funds in promising startups\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deliver ROI to LPs\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Also read:<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/razorpay.com\/learn\/venture-capital-process\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> How Do Venture Capitalists Get Paid?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><b>Conclusion<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In VC funding, startups can raise money that they are under no obligation to repay. However, the cost of accepting the funds is higher\u2013investors can buy a percentage of the company from the founders.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">VC funding is the ultimate financing structure for the startups that need cash to run their engine and will spend more time in the red to build a profitable business.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cOne of the cautionary lessons of VC is, if you don\u2019t invest on the basis of serious flaws, you don\u2019t invest in most of the big winners.\u201d ?<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Marc Andreessen\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Also read: <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/razorpay.com\/blog\/indian-fintech-unbalanced-adoption\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India\u2019s FinTech \u2013 An Unbalanced Adoption<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>VC funding is the ultimate financing structure for the startups that need cash to run their engine and will spend more time in the red to build a profitable business.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":151156461,"featured_media":1661,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1383],"tags":[2650,1707,2977],"class_list":{"0":"post-1660","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-investing","9":"tag-startups","10":"tag-venture-capitalists"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/learn.razorpay.in\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/learn.razorpay.in\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/learn.razorpay.in\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learn.razorpay.in\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/151156461"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learn.razorpay.in\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1660"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/learn.razorpay.in\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15309,"href":"https:\/\/learn.razorpay.in\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1660\/revisions\/15309"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learn.razorpay.in\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/learn.razorpay.in\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learn.razorpay.in\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learn.razorpay.in\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}