We roll up our sleeves, get down in trenches with the founders and are the first port of call whenever they run into difficult scenarios in business, people, markets and get them back on track for growth. Our mission is, to help the next set of technical founders, with early Venture Capital to build highly scalable and efficient Global Businesses.
Typically first investment is between $300K to $750K. Then for successful startups, set aside upto $2M.
We invest in the pre-seed to pre-series A rounds of startups. These startups can either have the product built out with first few customers, or be in a POC stage with visibility to revenue.
Businesses with defensible IP such as Semiconductors, AI, ML, Cybersecurity, Space technology, Biotechnology, Robotics, Medtech, EV, Alternate fuels etc
Backing the next revolution of Indian startups, we invest in India domiciled startups. Within the country we have no geographical restrictions and looked at Bengaluru, Delhi, Haryana, Kerala, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Indore etc.
We invest in early-stage companies, preferably with some semblance of a product market fit at the intersection of network effects, technology and innovative business models by leveraging platforms, protocols, and the power of modularity.
We believe returning founders who have learned the rules of the startup game in their first stint are able to crash timelines to scale businesses. Further, if you have discovered a non obvious market opportunity where you have a unique advantage, then you have a defensible lead.
One of the things we are looking for is solutions that give people back the most precious thing they have in their lives, which is their time. If you give people their time back, they will love you forever and keep coming back for more.
We value an India for India play, which can then subsequently be scaled to, first, similar markets and subsequently globally. These are startups where machine learning and deep technology are deployed to scale exponentially.
We invest in early-stage companies, preferably with some semblance of a product market fit at the intersection of network effects, technology and innovative business models by leveraging platforms, protocols, and the power of modularity.
We believe returning founders who have learned the rules of the startup game in their first stint are able to crash timelines to scale businesses. Further, if you have discovered a non obvious market opportunity where you have a unique advantage, then you have a defensible lead.
One of the things we are looking for is solutions that give people back the most precious thing they have in their lives, which is their time. If you give people their time back, they will love you forever and keep coming back for more.
We value an India for India play, which can then subsequently be scaled to, first, similar markets and subsequently globally. These are startups where machine learning and deep technology are deployed to scale exponentially.
Our founders have experienced that we are more than just a cheque. At the stage that we come in, founders don’t need investors who are well versed with financial engineering, they need help from folks who have operated businesses and our team brings that in spades. We work with the founders to provide comprehensive support. Some of the key value adds are mentioned below.
Having been operators managing large businesses, entreprenuerial ventures and startups ourselves, we have a first hand understanding of what founders need. We work hand in hand with our portfolio companies helping them build strategies for the long term. We provide support in Go-To Market strategy, refining the revenue model as per market trends, product feature prioritisation amongst others.
Our team is deeply entrenched in the venture ecosystem for over two decades. The passion for frontier new age technologies unites us and has enabled us to be a core member of the various private and public institutions in the country working towards mainstream access to such advanced technologies. This access coupled with our experience of speaking to over 2000 founders in a year, gives us the ability to derive key insights about the trends in the market, what’s working and why. More importantly, it helps us identify, what are common pitfalls to avoid. We share these with our portfolio founders to support their overall decision making.
Early stage startups often need the first push to prove their technology works. Then the product led growth kicks in. Our leadership team’s strong and diversified network unlocks these opportunities for our portfolio founders. Many of our companies have had meaningful conversations with key decision makers who have often converted in POC/ paid clients.
We truly believe that the key founding team is the essence of the business at the pre-seed to pre-series A stages. Since the highest risk in the business it in its early stages, it is critical to have the right members by your side building for the future. Thus we work closely with the founders to help in making this essential decision by providing guidance, support in interviews and reference checks.
The team has built a diverse gallery of tools and vendor partnerships which our portfolio companies can take benefit of. These include key subscriptions to cloud credits and productivity tools. Additionally, we have designated vendor partners for compliance, legal functions, financial management, IP filings and software teams which we can connect the founders with.
Despite our best attempts, there are some cases where the founders have internal conflicts with the management team at their company. When we come on-board we build tight relationships with each member of the team. This trust is built over years of hard work. Our years of experience managing firms, has enabled us to handle internal conflicts well through open conversations to ensure the streamlined business operations.
We understand that deeptech businesses have long gestation periods and need patient capital. We wish to be a part of the founders journey from 0 to 1 and intend to support them through multiple rounds of investments. Thus we have allocated over 50% of the fund to follow on investments.
Seafund Venture India Trust (“Seafund”) is an alternative investment fund for sophisticated investors, registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”). Salamander Advisors LLP, a limited liability partnership registered with the Registrar of Companies is the Investment Manager for Seafund.
Seafund operates exclusively out of its offices in Bengaluru and Delhi, India. Seafund does not have any agency, association, collaboration, relationship or solicitation partnership with any company, individual, body corporate or entity and operates independently and solely under its own name. No such company, individual, body corporate or entity has at any time been authorized to represent Seafund or its interests, nor represent itself/himself as being associated with Seafund in any manner, vis-a-vis any third party.
In case of further enquiries regarding Seafund’s business, please feel free to contact us at connect@seafund.in.
Category of AIF : Category I – Alternate Investment Fund
SEBI Registration No : IN/AIF1/16-17/0263
Name of Fund Manager : Salamander Advisors LLP
Scores ID : AIF0024
Category of AIF : Category II – Alternate Investment Fund – VC Fund
SEBI Registration No : IN/AIF2/22-23/1122
Name of Fund Manager : Salamander Advisors LLP
Scores ID : AIF01018