Rajasthan fund for IT start-ups

The Rajasthan Asset Management Company (RAMC) has set up a venture capital fund to help information and other knowledge-based start-ups in the National Capital Region (NCR) and Rajasthan.

The Rajasthan Venture Capital Fund (RVCF), which has a corpus of Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion), would focus on innovative projects in the small and medium enterprises (SME) segment, such as the IT/ITeS, bio-technology, retail, tourism, hospitality and entertainment sectors.

This was announced by Kuldeep Ranka, MD, Rajasthan State Industrial Development & Investment Corporation Limited (RIICO) and chairman, RAMC, at the fourth National Conference on Venture Capital Finance held at Jaipur.

"The fund has already received a commitment of Rs 30 crore from the principal sponsors RIICO and SIDBI. Balance funds shall be pooled by identified institutional investors. With the launch of this fund, the innovative and other knowledge driven start-up companies will get lot of boost in National Capital Region," he said.

The Rajasthan Venture Capital Fund is the state's first venture capital fund, mandated to operate on pan-India basis. It has been conceptualised and supported by RIICO and the Small

Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI). RVCF, which began operations in 2002, today has a portfolio of eight companies in Rajasthan and the NCR region.

The Rajasthan-based companies set up with help from this fund include Natural Technologies, Cyber Futuristics, Hiteshi Herbotech and Harbinger TechAxes.

Companies such as Home Store (India) Ltd, Liqvid e-Learning Services and Escotoonz Entertainment, which are based in the NCR region, have also benefited from this fund.

RVCF has provided these ventures with both the start-up capital and managerial support.