Inflexor Opportunity Fund Flashcards
About Inflexor Fund
- Inflexor Ventures is led by Venkat Vallabhaneni, Jatin Desai and Pratip Mazumdar.
- AMC has been in existence since 2015 and has raised ~ Rs 680 Cr across 2 Cat I AIFs - Parampara Early-Stage Opportunities Fund 1 and Inflexor Technology Fund.
- These two funds have made 25 investments in technology driven early-stage companies. 4 exits have been done so far.
- AMC currently has 7-member Investment team and a 4-member Operational Team.
About Fund Management Team
Mr. Venkat Vallabhaneni (Managing Partner)
* Venkat is a serial Entrepreneur with 25+ years of experience in technology and management (close to 2 decades of experience in USA and 7+ years in India). Prior to Inflexor and Parampara, Venkat was part of the senior management for Bank of America’s Global Delivery Centers.
* His previous investments prior to the funds include eVaidya.com acquired by Singapore/US based healthcare entity, Energy leader(Industrial Batteries Manufacturer) acquired by Enersys and Accurum, Inc. that was acquired by Kanbay.
Mr. Jatin Desai (Managing Partner)
* Jatin has 25+ years of global experience spanning Fund Management and Investments. He has been involved with the startup ecosystem in India for the past few years and was also part of the US startup ecosystem in the mid to late 90s.
* Prior to co-founding Inflexor and Parampara, he has served as the CIO of Bank of America & DSP Merrill Lynch in India.
Mr. Pratip Mazumdar (Partner)
* Pratip has 19+ years of experience across venture capital, private equity, project finance and technology consulting, principally in the areas of transportation, healthcare, energy and telecom.
* He is a founding team member at Inflexor. His prior engagements include equity investing roles at GlP India, IDFC Alternatives and SBI Capital Markets
Investment Strategy & Portfolio Construct
- Investment Themes –
o India Story (Indian Start-up ecosystem will become prominent among peers - Powerhouse of the global economy)
o Technology First (Digital Economy to become a major part of the World Economy)
o New Markets (Focus on digital infrastructure, depth of talent, and flourishing start-up ecosystem) - Technology IP/Innovation/Deep-Tech across sectors.
- Stage of portfolio companies - Series A onwards.
- Target Ownership - Up to 10% (Follow-on capital to target Ownership up to 10% in assets with currently lower (<10%) shareholding)
- Single Company Limit - 25% (Single Company Investment Amount Limit as % of Fund Size)
Portfolio Construct
* Fund will purchase the identified pool of assets of 11 portfolio companies from an existing fund.
* Rs 205 Cr out of total commitment (~65%) shall be apportioned towards buyout of these companies.
* Balance Rs 110 cr commitments will be towards primary investments in portfolio companies managed by Inflexor. Primary investments will be used to maintain and/or increase Fund’s share holding.
Portfolio Companies
Company Company Description Stake
1. Atomberg Consumer appliance company 3.6%
2. Playshifu Educational mixed reality toys 4.9%
3. 4. Entropik Multi-modal emotional AI software 4.3%
5. Cloudesk Deep & dark web monitoring cybersecurity software 5.8%
6. Chakr Emission control device 1.5%
7. Bellatrix Satellite propulsion company 7.9%
8. Verloop Conversational AI platform for marketing and sales automation 5.9%
9. Singularity Rapid silicon design verification for semi-conductors 9.2%
Terra Immersive online gaming platform for Gen Alpha 1.1%
10. DataResolve Insider threat management cybersecurity software 32.3%
11. Practically Adaptive learning platform for education 5.0%
Fund Features
Nature of the Scheme Closed-ended AIF Category I
Target Fund Size Rs 315 Crore (Rs 205 Cr for Secondary Buyout and Rs 110 Cr for primary or follow on investments)
Fund Management Team Mr. Venkat Vallabhaneni, Mr. Jatin Desai and Mr. Pratip Mazumdar
Fund Tenure 5 years, further extendable by 1+1 years
Minimum Commitment Amount Rs. 1 Crore
Drawdown Schedule Expected 1st drawdown: 75% of commitment
NRI Eligibility NRIs can invest on a case-to-case basis in consultation with AMC.
US and Canada based NRIs can invest.
Management Fee* Share Class Amount Fixed Fee (p.a) Hurdle Carry (with catch-up)
C1 1 Crore and above 1.5% 10% 15%
NAV Reporting frequency Quarterly
Final Closure Date Expected - 15th Sept 2024
Company Profile - Atomberg
Deep engineering to re-envision consumer appliances
* Develops smart and super energy-efficient home appliances with
electrical, mechanical and software led innovations
* Range of smart products - fans, food processors to smart door locks.
* No 1 seller for BLDC and smart fans on Amazon India, highest market
share in the premium fan category
* 6% market share (FY ‘23) of INR ~10,000 Crore ceiling fan industry in
India*
* Largest BLDC motor assembly facility in India
Transaction Summary
- Secondary investment for acquisition of ~3.6% stake
- Expected exit mode : IPO in 3-4 years
- Current company valuation: Rs. 3,420 cr
- Stake: 3.61 % amounting to Rs. 123.80 cr
Investment Rationale
Team: Experienced founders with a proven track record of execution
and delivering targets
* Performance: 23x growth over the last 5 years (FY24 vs FY19),
* Tech / Competitive Advantage: key differentiator of IP and
technology-led innovation and not just aesthetical upgrade
* Market: Consumer appliances market expected to grow at ~8-10%
YoY with 93 Mn new housing requirements in 20361.
Future Outlook
Company developing multiple kitchen appliances and new versions
of fan motors expected to be launched in FY25 /FY26
* Revenues expected to grow at ~30% YoY near term with strong focus
on profitability
* EMS Centre and subsidiary set up to diversify the product
development
* Strong tailwinds from Indian regulators with changes in energy
efficiency norms
Company Profile - Playshifu
Company Profile
* An early learning brand focused on building foundational skills
through play for children between the age of 2 to 13 years
* Company creating educational mixed reality toys for enhancement of
STEM (Science, technology, engineering, mathematics) learning
* 3 platforms – Orboot, Plugo and Tacto with over 20 product variants,
each providing unique phygital experiences
* Current user base is over 1 million kids spread across 40 countries
* Developed vision, touch and AI ML based tech stack for product
platforms inhouse. 2 patents granted, 1 patent filed
Founding Team
Dinesh Advani (IIT KGP)
Vivek Goyal (Stanford, IIT KGP)
Sector
Consumer Tech /
Ed Tech
Year of Investment: 2017
Incorporation
March 2016
Co-investors
Chiratae Ventures
Athera VP
Trifecta Capital
Bharat Innovation Fund
Transaction Summary
* Secondary investment for acquisition of ~4.94% stake
* Primary investment – follow on investment to maintain or increase
the stake
* Expected exit mode : Strategic / Financial investor in 3-4 years
* Current company valuation: Rs. 276 cr
* Stake: 4.94% amounting to Rs. 13.63 cr
Investment Rationale
* Team: Experienced founders with a proven track record of execution
and delivering targets
* Market and Reach: Large addressable market with significant
tailwinds
* Product range: Love Dabble, Orboot, Plugo, Tacto with activities
that build early foundational skills of reading, comprehension, motor
skills and problem solving
Future Outlook
* Launching new products across new categories, For ex: Plush -
companion toys, Love Dabble – physical toys
* Tie up with large Distributors in US; significant revenue potential
expected from these distributors in FY25
* Expanding presence in India; Contributing 30% to total revenues in
FY24E; licensing arrangement with Peppa Pig; Co-branded products
* Positive regulatory tailwinds for local toy manufacturers/sellers from
India: GoI requires BIFS certification for all toys and import duty
increased from 30% to 60%
* Focus on profitability with strong unit economics; FY25 to be
profitable
Company Profile - Entropik Technologies
Company Profile
* Worlds 1st multi modal emotion AI stack
* Software uses facial coding, eye tracking, brain wave mapping and
Voice AI to measure and quantify human emotions and attention
* Ability to analyse user’s reactions to products and marketing
campaigns with behavioral parameters
* Global presence with revenues from US, EU, APAC and India
* Clientele ranges from Brands - Tata, KFC, ICICI, MARS, Eurosport,
Godrej, P&G, Sony, ITC; to Marketing Agencies - IPSOS, Dentsu, Kantar
PE; to Media Companies - Zee, Warner Bros, Byte Dance, Disney
Founding Team
Ranjan Kumar (IIT KGP)
Sector
Enterprise Tech /
SAAS
Year of Investment: 2018
Incorporation
February 2016
Co-investors
Bessemer VP
SIG Venture Capital
Bharat Innovation Fun
Transaction Summary
* Secondary investment for acquisition of ~4.27% stake
* Primary investment – follow on investment to increase the stake
* Expected exit mode : Strategic / Financial investor in 3-4 years
* Current company valuation: Rs. 572 cr*
* Stake: 4.27% amounting to Rs. 24.42 cr*
* Current round underway at Pre Money of Rs 910crores. Implied stake will be valued
at Rs 39 crores.
Investment Rationale
* Team: Experienced founder with a proven track record of execution
and delivering targets; Strong senior team with operation experience
in US and Europe.
* Traction: contracted INR 95 Crore FY24E SAAS EXIT ARR; 70% of new
customer wins during current financial year are from US, Europe and
APAC
Future Outlook
* Comprehensive & Integrated research platform to buyers. Offers
Quantitative studies, qualitative studies, research repository and copilot
* DIY product suites for driving Consumer Insights for Marketing
Agencies and User Insights for Brands; Well defined value
proposition to the customers
* ARR expected to grow 40+% YOY over the next 2 years
* Focus on Profitability; FY25 projected to be profitable
Company Profile -Cloudsek Information Security
Company Profile
* Digital risk management platform offering enterprise solutions in
Cybersecurity
* Began with Dark/Deep Web Monitoring product called X-Vigil.
Expanded to Software and Supply Chain Monitoring called S – Vigil
* Solutions include monitoring of dark web, cyber threats, data leaks,
security infrastructure and brand threat monitoring
* Customers across sectors in BFSI, Oil and Gas, Media etc. and across
Geographies like India, APAC, UK, Europe and US
* Clients include Mckinsey, AbI InBev, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, RBI, Indian
Oil, EMAAR, Airtel, PayTM, Reliance, Tata Communications, MetLife,
Olam NPCI, SulAmerica, Network18
Founding Team
Rahul Sassi
Sector
Cyberseucrity
Year of Investment: 2019
Incorporation
September 2015
Co-investors
MassMutual Ventures
Omidyar Network
Exfinity Venture Partner
Tenacity
Transaction Summary
* Secondary investment for acquisition of ~5.77% stake
* Primary investment – follow on investment to maintain or increase
the stake
* Expected exit mode : Strategic / Financial investor in 3-4 years
* Current company valuation: Rs. 456.3 cr
* Stake: 5.77% amounting to Rs. 26.33 cr
Investment Rationale
* Team:
* Founder is a college dropout, a well-known Cybersecurity expert;
Extended management team in place.
* Strong brand presence within the Cyber Security Industry
* Demonstrated consistent growth over the last few years with repeat
customers
* Traction: INR ~50 Crore FY24E SAAS EXIT ARR
Future Outlook
* Working on expanding sales partnerships in US, UK and Europe over
the next financial year. Establishing a partnership team to manage
relationships
* Developing AI based products using customer data collected over
the last few years. AI enhanced products to Predict and Prevent
cyber threats
* Targeting to grow ARR by 30% YOY for the next 2 – 3 years
Company Profile - Bellatrix Aerospace
Company Profile
* A satellite propulsion company using green technologies to develop:
o Rudra: Green Propellant Thruster: for satellites ranging from 10 -
1,000 kg
o Arka: Hall Effect Thruster: for satellites 50 - 5,000 kgs
o Fingernail: Nano Thruster: for satellites less than 20 kgs with small
power generation capacity
o Jal: Microwave Plasma Thruster: for heavy geo satellites weighing
>2,000 kgs
* Space qualification of Rudra and Arka achieved by the company
through an ISRO PSLV launch on January 1, 2024
Historical Revenue
* Company is currently Pre revenue
* Company has received small non-recurring developmental fees in the
past from Indian Defense and space research agencies - DRDO and
ISRO.
* Company is in talks to bag their first commercial contract with a large
international customer in March 24. Revenues from this contract are
expected to start in FY26.
* Company is also expecting to sign large commercial contract with
DRDO in FY25.
Founding Team
Rohan Ganapathy
Yashas Karanam
Sector
Space Tech
Year of Investment: 2019
Incorporation
February 2015
Co-investors
BASF Venture Capital
Startupxseed Ventures
Pavestone Capital
Transaction Summary
* Secondary investment for acquisition of ~7.86% stake
* Primary investment – follow on investment to maintain or increase
the stake
* Expected exit mode : Strategic / Financial investor in 3-4 years
* Current company valuation: Rs. 288 cr
* Stake: 7.86% amounting to Rs. 22.64 cr
Investment Rationale
* Team: Founders are Aerospace and Electrical Engineers with strong
domain expertise; Featured in Forbes 30Under30 Asia; Company
incubated at IISc Bangalore
* Need for the product: Industry moving toward greener and compact
propulsion systems from traditional chemical systems.
* Traction: Will start commercialization of Arka and Rudra in FY25.
Potential order of INR 37 Crore from Thales Aerospace; In
conversations with DRDO for INR 140 Crore developmental order
Future Outlook
* Developing an Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV) capable of shifting
orbits of satellites deployed in space using the proprietary Green and
Electric Propulsion technologies
* Land acquired in an aerospace park outside of Bangalore to set up a
manufacturing/assembly plant in FY25
Company Profile - Verloop
Company Profile
* A smart conversational AI marketing and sales automation platform
* Uses AI / ML to offer customer support automation by integrating
conversations across multiple messaging channels
* Offers conversational AI solutions empowered by Generative AI
thereby delivering highly personalised and context relevant
interactions in multiple languages
* Integration with Whatsapp, SalesForce, Shopify for multi channel
messaging
* Large enterprise clients across geographies i.e. India, GCC and APAC
Founding Team
K Ganesh (Growth Story)
Gaurav Singh
Sector
Enterprise SAAS
Year of Investment: 2018
Incorporation
June 2015
Co-investors
Alpha Wave
Growth Story
Pratithi Investments
Sama family office
Transaction Summary
* Secondary investment for acquisition of ~5.89% stake
* Expected exit mode : Strategic in 3-4 years
* Current company valuation: Rs. 204 cr
* Stake: 5.89% amounting to Rs. 12.02 cr
Investment Rationale
* Team: Strong technical background of the promoter team; a good
complimenting extended team
* K Ganesh – Investor founder has been a serial entrepreneur and
exited companies like Big Basket, Protea Medical and Blue Stone
* Traction: Large enterprise clients across geographies i.e. INDIA, GCC
and APAC. Clients include ADIB, Almatar, Rapido, Meesho, My
Glamm, IHH Healthcare, Bank Dofar
Future Outlook
* Plans to expand in LATAM; expanding partnerships in North America
with multiple partners; planning to enhance existing presence in MEA
* Using Open-Source Generative AI products in existing solutions.
Developing consolidated offerings using proprietary LLMs and other
algorithms trained on customer data.
* INR 30 Crore FY24E SAAS EXIT ARR; ARR expected to grow by 20%+
YOY over next 2 – 3 years
* Focus on profitability in FY25
Company Profile - Data Resolve Technologies
Company Profile
* Cyber security company focused on insider threat management and
endpoint security
* Helps organisations address issues of data leakage, employee
productivity, behavioral monitoring, forensics and web service
management
* inDefend suite provides: Data protection over email, file uploads,
applications and data at rest; Employee monitoring over chats, search
activities, emails, etc; Employee forensics using tools such as
screenshot monitoring and shadow logging; Analytics platform of
network apps, web file uploads, external media devices, etc
* Desksight.AI: Provides a tool for productivity management for
remote workforce and improve operational efficiency.
Founding Team
Dhruv Khanna (IIM C)
Nagarjun Kota (IIT KGP)
Deepanjan Biswas (IIT KGP)
Sector
Cyberseucrity
Year of Investment: 2017
Transaction Summary
* Secondary investment for acquisition of ~32.33% stake
* Expected exit mode : Strategic investor in 2 - 3 years
* Current company valuation: Rs. 55.50 crores
* Stake: 32.33% amounting to Rs. 17.94 crores
Investment Rationale
* Team: Founder working with the Company for over 10 years.
Company operating on lean team for 3 years
* Traction: Current revenues of INR 9.2 Crore FY24E. currently
profitable. Business expected to continue to be profitable at current
revenue and growth rates
Future Outlook
* Focused on expansion with various channel partners in MEA, ASEAN
and Africa
* Started white labeling the product with couple of partners
Key Risks and Mitigants
* Product obsolescence risk:
* Company currently working with a lean team and minimal new
product development
* Current product being white labeled for strategic partners and for
Government business as Make in India cybersecurity product
* Execution risk:
* Revenues expected to grow at 20% YoY for the next 2 - 3 years
* Market risk:
* Global End Point Security market estimated to be USD 14.86 billion in
2024 and projected to reach USD 30.29 billion by 2032, at a CAGR of
9.3% (Fortune Business Insights)
* Future fund raise and exit risk:
* Company has not raised any external funding in last 4 years. Minimal
capital required to continue current business
* In early conversation with global and domestic players for potential
acquisition. Strategic partners may work with the Company for 1-2
years before acquisition
Company Profile - Chakr Innovations
Company Profile
* Emission control technology (ECT) for large diesel generator (DG) sets
o Chakr Shield Device - captures 70%+ of particulate matter
emissions from DG sets. By-product from emissions is converted to
ink which is sold to clients like DELL (ECD)
o Chakr Dual Fuel Kit - empowers a fully diesel-dependent engine to
run effectively on a mix of 70% natural gas + 30% diesel
* Clients include Amazon, ITC, Bosch, Tata, Toshiba, DuPont, Hitachi,
ABB, Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum, Meridien, L&T, Reliance
Industries, Petronas, TAJ, Mahindra, Unilever, PVR etc.
* Piloting / Developing 2 new products / technologies
Founding Team
Kushagra Srivastava
Sector
Clean Tech
Year of Investment: 2018
Incorporation
September 2015
Co-investors
Neev Fund
Indian Angel Network
Exim Bank
BII
Transaction Summary
* Secondary investment for acquisition of ~1.47% stake
* Primary investment – follow on investment to maintain or increase
the stake
* Expected exit mode : Strategic / Financial investor in 3-4 years
* Current company valuation: Rs. 190 cr
* Stake: 1.47% amounting to Rs. 2.79 cr
Investment Rationale
* Team: Founder from IIT Delhi and started when in college. Extended
Management team in place. Company has over 800+ employees
including full time and contract workers.
* Product: Company moving from single product to multiple products
continuing its theme of sustainability and clean tech.
* Market Size: Installed capacity of DGs more than 95GW in 2022 in
India (The Financial Express) providing a large market for the
Company. Company one of the few organized players to have
received testing approvals for the ECTs
Future Outlook
* Regulatory push from local governments fully aligned with emission
control product
* Piloting / Developing 2 new products / technologies
o Aluminum based energy storage technology – pilot testing for
electric 2 wheelers
o Piloting a decentralised virtual grid platform as energy exchange
for secondary sources of power and better utilization of the
installed capacity of large DG sets
Key Risks and Mitigants
* Product risk:
* Successful launch of new products critical for Company’s growth.
* Aluminum based energy storage technology has received initial iCAT
testing approvals. Company is confident of receiving certifications for
new form factors and increased range for electric 2 wheelers
* Market risk:
* Market adoption increased due to favorable regulatory requirements
in some of the states in India. Regulatory push from local
governments will continue to provide strong tail winds.
* Company looking to expand emission control business to other
industry verticals having large diesel generators like shipping
* Install base of ECT to provide the data required for launch of
decentralized virtual grid platform
* Future fund raise and exit risk:
* Company has been successful in raising debt and equity capital from
large financial institutions like SBI Neev and BII.
* Company raising a Series B funding round of INR 250+ Crore in next
12 months. Continued interest from large financial investors may
provide an exit opportunity
