Early-stage startup fund 8i Ventures has launched a new $10 million seed fund Origami to invest $250k-$2 million in pre-seed to early revenue phase startups across industries. The fund said selected startups will get “a response within one week, a term sheet in two weeks, and deal closure in just four weeks.” Origami will aim at investing in 8-10 startups this year.
Founded in 2019 by Vikram Chachra and Vishwanath V, 8i Ventures was an early backer of companies such as Slice, M2P, Easebuzz, Blue Tokai, etc.
“Some of the most successful startups have been created in the deepest of funding winters. Uber, Airbnb and Whatsapp were all incorporated during the great financial crisis of 2008. We believe that there has never been better time to build than right now which is why we created ‘Origami’,” said Vikram Chachra, Founding Partner, 8i Ventures.
Chachra said the fund will double the allocation to $20 million if it is well received. 8i Ventures has allotted $10 million from its Fund II to launch the seed programme.
In the middle of the funding winter season, 8i Ventures announced the first close of its $50 million second fund by raising $25 million.
8i Ventures invests in startups in fintech, commerce and consumer categories. It has invested in over 50 seed to early-stage startups over the last decade.
According to data from Tracxn, out of $8.4 billion poured into Indian startups in 2023, seed funding totalled $0.779 billion or 9.4 per cent, growing from 7.05 per cent in 2022. The average deal size at the seed stage in startups has grown to $0.95 million in 2023 from $0.76 million in 2020.
In February 2024, Indian startups raised Rs 5039 crore (around $607 million), up 43 per cent from February last year while the deal count increased by 19 per cent to 130 from February 2023, as per private market data intelligence company PrivateCircle.