Paytm founder, Vijay Shekhar Sharma has had an incredible journey so far. Though life hasn't particularly been a bed of roses for him, but he has fought through all the challenges that life has thrown at him and emerged victorious in quite a few of them.

As a child, Sharma was a child prodigy of sorts. He passed his higher secondary when he was just 14 years old, but when it came to college, he had his first bump in the road. Hailing from a Hindi background and small town like Aligarh, Sharma found it hard to find his place in a big town like Delhi. This is when his direction changed from college to entrepreneurship. Though towards the end, he ended up conquering both.

Sharma is now the owner of One97 Communications, which was recently valued at $4.2 billion, according to research firm CB Insights. Not only is he fulfilling and living his dream now, but Sharma is also helping other entrepreneurs and startups that are trying to make their mark in the startup ecosystem. His first investment was in the year 2010, and the most recent one was in February, 2017. 



Here's a list of Startups that Vijay Shekhar Sharma has invested in till date:

Milaap

Year Of Investment -- September, 2010

Bangalore headquartered Milaap claims to be India's leading crowdfunding platform for personal and social causes. Using the platform, one can raise money for personal causes, emergencies, loved ones, neighbourhood projects and social causes. Founded in June, 2010 by Mayukh Choudhury, Anoj Viswanathan, and Sourabh Sharma, Milaap has been successful in helping raise over $12 Million for 50,000+ projects across India.

Within two months of its launch, Milaap raised a seed funding round of $75k in September, 2010 from investors Vijay Shekhar Sharma and Rajiv Madhok (who is the COO of One97 Communications).

Hiver

Year Of Investment -- November, 2011

Palo Alto, California-based Hiver is a software facilitating email collaboration which allows users to share email labels and collaborate from their inbox. The tool turns a user's email inbox into a simple, powerful collaboration tool. It (Shared Gmail Folders/Inbox for Support and Sales) helps teams collaborate right from their email inbox and helps companies in making their Support, Sales, Project Management, Recruitment and Operations processes more efficient.

Hiver started out as GrexIt in July, 2011 and Vijay Shekhar Sharma made an undisclosed amount investment in the startup in November, 2011. Though headquartered in US, Hiver has an Indian set up in Bangalore.

Zapr

Year Of Investment -- May, 2013

Bangalore-based Zapr claims to be one of the world's first media consumption repositories and cross-targeting platforms. Founded by Deepak Baid, Sandipan Mondal and Sajo Mathews in the year 2012, Zapr's technology platform auto-detects comprehensively all offline media content being viewed by millions of people. According to the startup, it is currently over 1000x larger than any audience measurement database in India.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma made an undisclosed investment in the startup in May, 2013.

Sourceasy

Year Of Investment -- April, 2014

San Francisco, California-based sourceasy is a web platform that enables designers and brands to get their apparel manufactured and delivered to them. Founded on March 1, 2013 by Pranay Srinivasan, Samudra Neelam Bhuyan and Chirag Chamoli, the startup is meticulously working towards building a global framework to power apparel manufacturing and distribution.


On April 18, 2014, Sourceasy announced that it has successfully raised a seed funding of $126.5k from 7 investors of which one was Vijay Shekhar Sharma.

GOQii

Year Of Investment -- July, 2015

Born in the year 2014, GOQii though headquartered in California has offices in Mumbai and Shenzhen as well. With GOQii, its founder Vishal Gondal aims to bring a permanent shift in the society to a healthier lifestyle with the combination of advanced wearable technology, the world's leading experts, coaches and karma. A collaboration of some of the world's leading experts and an amazingly hardworking management team, GOQii focuses on sustained engagement and goal reinforcement, and offers a complete ecosystem as a single integrated solution, which is a powerful combination of technology and human connection.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma made an undisclosed amount of investment in GOQii in July, 2015.

Applied Life Pvt. Ltd.

Year Of Investment -- August, 2015

Noida-based Applied Life Pvt. Ltd. is the parent company of SHEROES.in, which is a popular platform that helps women find opportunities, including work from home jobs, part time jobs, corporate roles, startup options, including other entrepreneurial options like franchising and affiliates.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma contributed in an undisclosed amount seed funding round in Applied Life in August, 2015.


InnerChef

Year Of Investment -- September 2015

Founded in the year 2015 by serial entrepreneurs Rajesh Sawhney, Sanjeev Singhal and Bal DiGhent, InnerChef claims to be one of the fastest growing food experience companies in the country. It offers ready-to-eat meals, gourmets do-it-yourself recipe kits (InnerChef DIY gourmet), detox cleanses and healthy eats (InnerChef+) as well as decadent desserts (Indulge by InnerChef). The service is currently operational in Delhi-NCR, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

InnerChef raised a seed funding of $1.66 M in September 2015 by 13 investors, of which one was Vijay Shekhar Sharma.

DealStreetAsia

Year Of Investment -- December, 2015

Founded in the year 2014, dealstreetasia is a news and intelligence platform that provides international and regional investors insights into some of Asia’s most opaque markets. They lay extra focus on reports on investments, mergers, acquisitions, private equity, venture capital, investment banking and the business of startups across the ASEAN region.

In December, 2015, the startup announced that it has successfully raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from 3 investors, namely: Hindustan Times, Singapore Angel Network and Vijay Shekhar Sharma.

Tapchief

Year Of Investment -- April, 2016

Founded in the year 2016, Bangalore-based Tapchief acts as a cohesive platform to discover and schedule calls with experts to get advice across domains. The startup claims to leverage the power of technology to make the process of discovery seamless and provide end to end service in terms of scheduling and executing the phone calls.

In April, 2016, Vijay Shekhar Sharma invested a whopping $150k in Tapchief.

FactorDaily

Year Of Investment -- May, 2016

Born in January, 2016, Bangalore-based FactorDaily is a technology news website that provides insights on companies, culture, future, and lifestyles. The startup's mission is to help its audience cut through the chaff and make sense of the future. For those in the business sectors, FactorDaily presents a realistic and in-depth commentary and stories about the companies and the people that matter in the business world.

FactorDaily raised a seed funding of $1 M in May, 2016 from 4 investors, namely: Accel Partners, Axcel Partners, Blume Ventures and Vijay Shekhar Sharma.

Remitware Payments

Year Of Investment -- August 2016

Palo Alto, California-based Remitr is a compelling money transfer platform that makes global payments simpler, faster and cost-effective. According to the company, it considers the security of its customers money and information as their topmost priorities and makes sure that their remittances are completely safe. Its state-of-the-art technology and efficiencies helps save costs and optimise one's savings every time one makes a transfer.

On August 9, 2016, Remitware Payments raised a whopping $ 1M in a seed funding round from 11 investors, of which one was Vijay Shekhar Sharma.

Unacademy

Year Of Investment -- August, 2016 and January, 2017

Starting its journey as a YouTube channel in 2010, Unacademy officially launched in January, 2016. Within such a short period of time, Unacademy claims to be India's largest education platform with over 2 million views every month. Its success stories boosts of thousands of students who have successfully cracked toughest of examinations in the country, improved their ability to speak and write better and increase their overall knowledge.

Unacademy raised a venture funding round of $1 M from 14 investors on August 24, 2016, of which one was Vijay Shekhar Sharma. The Paytm founder once again invested in the startup earlier this year in January when unacademy raised a $4.5 M Series A funding round from 13 investors.

Flyrobe

Year Of Investment -- August, 2016

Founded in 2015, Flyrobe is an online fashion rental platform that supplies western wear on-demand with a three-hour delivery timeline and ethnic wear on advance booking. Having 50 designers onboard, including industry leaders like Ritu Kumar, Masaba Gupta and Shehla Khan, the startup is currently live in Mumbai and Delhi and plans to branch out to Bengaluru and Hyderabad very soon.

Flyrobe raised a Series A venture round of $5.3 M in 2016 by 5 investors, of which one was Vijay Shekhar Sharma. The round was lead by IDG Ventures.

Innov8 Coworking

Year Of Investment -- February, 2017



Founded in October, 2015, New Delhi-based Innov8 claims to be Delhi’s most Central and Premium Coworking Space, and Innovation Centre. Aiming to disrupt the Indian Startup Culture, Innov8 is working towards making India the Silicon Hub of the world and change the ecosystem and collaborative structures of entrepreneurs in India.

Founded by Entrepreneurs & Investors at Project Guerrilla, Innov8 is an ambitious project to house 100 entrepreneurs & help them build their vision & create impactful startups from the National Soil. An area of 8,000 square feet in the midst of the Heritage Complex of Regal, dreams to change the way founders ideate, innovate & create products.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma invested an undisclosed amount in the company in February this year.

The Ken

Year Of Investment -- February, 2017


Founded on October 3, 2016, by a team of experienced journalists and entrepreneurs, The Ken is a new, digital, subscription-driven publication based out Bangalore. The publication's goal is to deliver fresh and original business insight through well-narrated stories to professionals, entrepreneurs, investors and leaders every morning. Its stories combine together analytical thinking, deep reporting and persuasive storytelling in order to provide its readers a peek into how innovation and disruption will impact the future of business.

The Ken raised an angel round of $400 K from 11 investors in February, 2017, of which one was Vijay Shekhar Sharma.
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