Falcon Edge Capital has raised fresh funding corpus of $300 Mn that will be duly utilized for fulfilling capital requirements of startups based in India and Southeast Asia.
The investment vehicle of the government of Abu Dhabi and clutch of investors from UAE were the principle participants in the latest funding corpus.
Falcon Edge Capital, which is a US based investment firm, will use the funds to invest in nearly 60-80 startups and the investments will be mostly in the realm of seed funding, angel funding and series A deal.
Investments will be done mostly in startups focused on cutting edge technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Economic Times citing unidentified sources has claimed that the startups that will be funded by Falcon Edge will need to have core team technology presence in Abu Dhabi.
The justification given for this step is that it will help to foster entrepreneurship spirit and also reduce Abu Dhabi’s dependence on the energy sector.
The name and other information about the investment vehicle representing the Abu Dhabi government has still not been ascertained.
Traditionally, Falcon Edge has always invested in early stage startups. Some of its portfolio companies like Ola, Quickr and Dailyhunt have become successful brand names.
In international markets, some of its successful portfolio companies include Didi Chuxing, Ant Financial, Lyft and Locus.
Tiger Global, another US based investment giant, had recently raised a massive funding corpus $3.8 Bn. After raising fresh funding corpus, the investment firm said that India will continue to be under its investment radar.
In fact, Tiger Global has already made couple of big investments in Indian startups in recent weeks. There are also reports that Sequoia Capital may also raise massive funding corpus of 1.3 Bn that is likely to be primarily dedicated for investment in India and Southeast Asian markets.
The news of big investment firms raising funding corpus should conventionally spell good news for India’s startup industry. Currently, the Indian startup industry is facing severe funding crunch due to liquidity crisis in the financial market.