Idein Ventures, a private equity firm based out of UAE, has earmarked up to $500 million for investment in a celebrity or unicorn startup from Indian subcontinent. For the same, its not going to use any of its regular funds, but will channelize other international funds who are traditional investors in assets.
Recently Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund had invested $3.5 billion in Uber setting a new precedent of investment in technology startups. Following the same, there has been a new interest in technology startups from various sovereign funds in the Middle East. Funds associated with various kingdoms are looking at startups in the Silicon Valley, China as well as India.
Idein Ventures is associated with the royal family of Ras al Khaimah of UAE. Its headed by Rajeshwar Prasad, who is also the CEO of RAK Sovereign Holding and a Cabinet Minister in the Republic of Guinea Bissau. It is also associated with a number of other fund sources that typically invest in traditional assets and similar companies. Despite the supposed slump in large-scale startup investments in India, Idein Ventures is exploring current unicorns in India and the rest of Asia for this new mandate.
Ashwin Srivastava, Director of Idein Ventures, says about this mandate, “We are in touch with some billion dollar plus companies and are looking at exploring others as well. We wish to present right opportunities to our partners, while filtering out paper unicorns and looking at companies that can bring as much value as Uber’s investment brought. Our value addition to these companies also goes beyond money and brings in the association of powerful royal names.”
Idein Ventures is also exploring startups that are less than a billion dollar in valuation but on the route towards the same. It is focusing on companies with potential of strong global brand value. It is keen on finding such companies from India, but being a global firm, it is also exploring startups in the rest of Asia.
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