India-based conglomerate JSW Group has received approval from the country’s Securities and Exchange Board of India regulator to make venture capital investments through its corporate venturing unit, the Economic Times reported on Thursday.
JSW Ventures will supply early-stage funding to startups developing education, healthcare, financial services, cleantech, enterprise software, software-as-a-service (SaaS), e-commerce and e-commerce services technology.
The fund will be equipped with an initial Rs 1bn ($14.7m) in capital, which will be deployed over three years.
JSW Ventures will be run by Gaurav Sachdeva, formerly general manager of strategic investments for media group Bennett Coleman and Co, who has been appointed managing partner, and JSW Cement managing director Parth Jindal.
Sachdeva said: “We look at the team, product-market fit, scalability and technology innovation while assessing companies. Companies in e-commerce, education, healthcare, fintech, SaaS and enterprise software which provide differentiated products or service offerings are of interest to us.
“We typically like to lead investment rounds and work with founders helping them discover and solve business critical problems.”