In June 2018, Ascension Ventures, a London-based early-stage venture capital firm, announced a joint venture with Mumbai-based Unicorn India Ventures (UIV) to launch the first cross-border and evergreen UK-India Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) Fund, called the Unicorn Ascension EIS Fund (UAF). The aim is to support and enable investments into UK-based technology start-ups that are looking to expand into the Indian market. The first close for the fund was expected to be valued at $2.3 million or INR 15.5 crores and investment/capital deployment started from September onwards.
Now, the first cross-border investment made through this evergreen fund is an undisclosed sum to Custom Materials Ltd., the London-based parent company of a social commerce startup called Moteefe. These fresh funds will be used to expand services in India during 3rd and 4th financial quarters in 2019. Moteefe was founded in 2015 as a B2B2C platform to provide end-to-end solutions to monetize social presence and provide customer support using white-label store technology, production and fulfillment networks and custom design tools.
This is the first step towards their goal of exposing the Indian market and ecosystem to trailblazing technological products and services of UK-based startups. The fund is geared towards technological manufacturing and developments in sectors like the Internet of Things, finance, robotics, security and surveillance, AI software for services, content and learning, agriculture, preventive healthcare, e-commerce etc.
Collaborations between the startup ecosystems in India and UK have been strengthened through multiple such initiatives. In 2015, UK exported £358 millions worth of digital services to India. In April 2018, Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Theresa May announced the launch of an ambitious UK-India Tech Partnership for the identification and pairing of businesses, universities and venture capital to provide routes of market access for entrepreneurs of small and medium enterprises in both countries.
The MoU that was signed underlined the need to boost their respective economies and improve the lives of citizens via improved governance, cybersecurity, healthcare and jobs creation. In order to crystallize this, the UK-India Fast Track Startup Fund was established, with the UK government committing to approximately $48 million investments in key areas similar to the ones mentioned above. NASSCHOM and TechUK have also signed an MoU for the UK-India Tech Alliance.
Pivotal features of the India-UK tech partnership include: the establishment of a technology hub in New Delhi for increased skills training and R&D; forging tech cluster partnerships (eg. Midlands Engine-Maharashtra Cluster and Northern Power House-Karnataka) for innovation sharing and technological exchange; launching a £1 Mn programme for the alignment of AI healthcare solutions from the UK with health reforms under Ayushman Bharat; raising funding for 40 fintech companies annually via the Fintech Rocketship Awards.
With the third largest startup ecosystem in the world, India has collaborated with many countries to provide support and opportunities to local entrepreneurs internationally. Yet, the UK remains the destination of choice for technological partnerships with Indian enterprises, even post BREXIT.
India Outbound
December 17, 2018
source https://indiaoutbound.org/uk-india-investment-funds-pivot-of-uk-india-tech-partnership/
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