Kalaari Capital Announces Kstart Batch 1 Portfolio, Invests $500K Each in Three Startups

Kalaari Capital accelerator Kstart, a unique seed program designed for the next generation of Indian entrepreneurs, has invested $500,000 each in three startups in financial services, healthcare and online video content management.

Kstart has picked out following startups from out a pool of 400 applications:

Active.ai : It aspires to be the go-to customer AI engagement platform for financial services companies such as banks, wealth managers and asset managers etc. Active.ai platform is designed to automate customer interactions using insights powered by algorithms. Its expertise enables its platform to be deeply connected to a financials platform via APIs or messaging interfaces, thereby automating customer service at a lower cost.

Affordplan : It is an alternative finance platform that enables healthcare affordability through planned savings. Hospitals and patients can co-design flexi payment plans so that patients can obtain medical treatment and products through a manageable payment structure developed based on individual need and cash flow. Affordplan primarily targets patients with non-critical healthcare conditions as they make up 70% of spending on health care services.

Indee : It builds the world’s most secure platform for web video streaming. Film studios and entertainment companies like 20th Century Fox, Reliance Entertainment and Epic Pictures use Indee to promote and test their content before it releases to the public.

Kalaari is planning to invest up to $20 million in as many as 40 startups as a part of its seed programme over the next two years. Kstart will invest $100,000-500,000 in 6-9 other start-ups this year.

Kstart has also roped in top executives like former Cisco chief technology officer Padmasree Warrior, Airbnb’s global expansion head Varsha Rao, Ratan Tata and top lawyer Zia Mody to mentor and advice startups.

Kalaari Capital which started in 2006, is an early-stage, technology-focused venture capital firm with $650 million in assets under management. The VC firm raised $290 million fund last year and its portfolio include firms like Flipkart, Snapdeal, Urban Ladder, Simplilearn and Zivame.