Makato Takano, Ex-PIMCO Japan Managing Director, CEO of Atomixmedia Inc., Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Japan and CEO of MT Partners K.K, has committed to invest Rs 30 Cr in the Indian Startup Ecosystem through GHV Accelerator. Mr Takano has also held senior roles at Goldman Sachs and Daiwa Securities earlier. He is also establishing a new VC fund - D4V, in association with Ideo, Palo Alto. This commitment from Mr. Takano for the Indian startup ecosystem, through GHV, will further strengthen and empower GHV to add more value to the Indian startup ecosystem. GHV helps startups build scalable and global businesses, with their feet firmly grounded on strong unit economics and hygienic business practices. To this partnership, as a part of the board of GHV Accelerator, Mr. Takano brings with him expertise in fund raising and ecosystem building.
Leveraging the strong growth in the India-Japan collaboration, GHV Accelerator founded by Vikram Upadhyaya in 2014, had partnered with WiL– World Innovation Lab and MT Partners, for the Indian venture capital funding space. This partnership has enabled GHV to have other strong corporate partnerships with Fortune 500 companies of Japan like Mizuho, SMBC, 7i Holdings and many more. Apart from being an Accelerator, GHV is also an early stage Venture Capital fund. This makes it a strategic VC fund with acceleration capacity.
According to Mr. Makoto Takano - "I visited India in 2016, in order to understand the Indian market better, and the potential it has to offer. I observed the scope of development and innovation in the country, and witnessed the innovation being done as of now. I believe, with the intellectual capital India has, along with the strong innovation empowerment ecosystem, where GHV is playing a key role, India is poised to be one of the leading economies especially in the new innovation space. This seems to be the perfect time to empower innovation in India, and I found a great partner in GHV, which has been doing this quite well, and I happy to be onboard with GHV to empower their portfolios further."
Earlier, WiL, one of the largest Japanese VC fund, based out of Silicon Valley, had committed a similar amount to be invested in GHV Accelerator’s portfolio.
Mr. Masataka Matsumoto, CoFounder and General Partner at WiL says, “Knowing India quite well, and having experience of working with Indian counterparts in the past, I understand and appreciate the opportunity offered by the Indian market. We partnered with GHV in 2014, and have also committed our investment to empower the Indian startup ecosystem through GHV. Over the last 2 yeas, we have seen the focused approach and vision that GHV has pursued. It has been a great journey, and as a strong partnership, we are delighted to work with GHV to empower the Indian Startup ecosystem, and looking to further strengthen our partnership with the launch of the upcoming fund of GHV.”
Mr. Takano and Mr. Matsumoto are visiting India in first half of April 2017 to meet the Indian startup ecosystem, policy makers and Entrepreneurs, along with the GHV team.
With this commitment, GHV is on track for launching the INR 350 crore fund for Indian startups very soon. The focus of the fund will be around health tech, fintech, adtech and B2B marketplace. Vikram Upadhyaya, the Chief Mentor, Accelerator Evangelist and the man behind GHV is spearheading this growth. Within two years of launch, the Accelerator has played a crucial role for over 200 Japanese corporates, 70 angels, 40 mentors, 11 startups with 25 entrepreneurs and 12 team members across India, Japan, and the US. Many Indian startups have grown with the acceleration imparted by GHV such as MyTaxiIndia, FitMein, AdurCup, Applop, Pindrop Music, PickMyLaundry & RoadGods, and are looking at next levels of sustainable growth. Corporates and family run business enterprises are traditionally hesitant to invest in start-ups unless there is absolute clarity on its sustainability, viability and scalability.
However, recently, they have started construing GHV as a great platform for curated startups.. This is due to the fact that they understand the credibility, rigorous evaluation, transparency and business support that GHV follows and provides to its portfolio startups, which are essential to create fundamentally strong and scalable business models. One such recent example is Adurcup, that announced raising an investment from renowned corporates and family offices, in March 2017.
Says Vikram Upadhyaya, Chief Mentor and Evangelist at GHV Accelerator, “For GHV, this was a natural sequence of events. Having said that, we are truly humbled by Mr. Takano’s belief in us and hope to take this partnership to a level that will add tremendous value to the Indian startup ecosystem.”
Leveraging the strong growth in the India-Japan collaboration, GHV Accelerator founded by Vikram Upadhyaya in 2014, had partnered with WiL– World Innovation Lab and MT Partners, for the Indian venture capital funding space. This partnership has enabled GHV to have other strong corporate partnerships with Fortune 500 companies of Japan like Mizuho, SMBC, 7i Holdings and many more. Apart from being an Accelerator, GHV is also an early stage Venture Capital fund. This makes it a strategic VC fund with acceleration capacity.
According to Mr. Makoto Takano - "I visited India in 2016, in order to understand the Indian market better, and the potential it has to offer. I observed the scope of development and innovation in the country, and witnessed the innovation being done as of now. I believe, with the intellectual capital India has, along with the strong innovation empowerment ecosystem, where GHV is playing a key role, India is poised to be one of the leading economies especially in the new innovation space. This seems to be the perfect time to empower innovation in India, and I found a great partner in GHV, which has been doing this quite well, and I happy to be onboard with GHV to empower their portfolios further."
Earlier, WiL, one of the largest Japanese VC fund, based out of Silicon Valley, had committed a similar amount to be invested in GHV Accelerator’s portfolio.
Mr. Masataka Matsumoto, CoFounder and General Partner at WiL says, “Knowing India quite well, and having experience of working with Indian counterparts in the past, I understand and appreciate the opportunity offered by the Indian market. We partnered with GHV in 2014, and have also committed our investment to empower the Indian startup ecosystem through GHV. Over the last 2 yeas, we have seen the focused approach and vision that GHV has pursued. It has been a great journey, and as a strong partnership, we are delighted to work with GHV to empower the Indian Startup ecosystem, and looking to further strengthen our partnership with the launch of the upcoming fund of GHV.”
Mr. Takano and Mr. Matsumoto are visiting India in first half of April 2017 to meet the Indian startup ecosystem, policy makers and Entrepreneurs, along with the GHV team.
With this commitment, GHV is on track for launching the INR 350 crore fund for Indian startups very soon. The focus of the fund will be around health tech, fintech, adtech and B2B marketplace. Vikram Upadhyaya, the Chief Mentor, Accelerator Evangelist and the man behind GHV is spearheading this growth. Within two years of launch, the Accelerator has played a crucial role for over 200 Japanese corporates, 70 angels, 40 mentors, 11 startups with 25 entrepreneurs and 12 team members across India, Japan, and the US. Many Indian startups have grown with the acceleration imparted by GHV such as MyTaxiIndia, FitMein, AdurCup, Applop, Pindrop Music, PickMyLaundry & RoadGods, and are looking at next levels of sustainable growth. Corporates and family run business enterprises are traditionally hesitant to invest in start-ups unless there is absolute clarity on its sustainability, viability and scalability.
However, recently, they have started construing GHV as a great platform for curated startups.. This is due to the fact that they understand the credibility, rigorous evaluation, transparency and business support that GHV follows and provides to its portfolio startups, which are essential to create fundamentally strong and scalable business models. One such recent example is Adurcup, that announced raising an investment from renowned corporates and family offices, in March 2017.
Says Vikram Upadhyaya, Chief Mentor and Evangelist at GHV Accelerator, “For GHV, this was a natural sequence of events. Having said that, we are truly humbled by Mr. Takano’s belief in us and hope to take this partnership to a level that will add tremendous value to the Indian startup ecosystem.”
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