Toronto’s Ryerson Futures launches $15 million fund for early-stage Indian startups

Ryerson Futures, a for-profit entity wholly owned by Toronto’s Ryerson University, has announced a US$15 million fund in association with India’s Chokhani Group. The money will be invested in early stage technology businesses which are part of the Zone Startups India accelerator – a joint venture between Ryerson and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) housed in the BSE building. The fund will invest between US$50,000 and US$500,000 in 10-15 Indian startups every year.

Zone Startups India kicked off in February this year. So far, it has picked 38 Indian startups focused on data analytics, mobility, ecommerce, education, hardware technology, human computing interface, mobile payments, and healthcare for its accelerator program. Focus Analytics, Bug Clipper, BabyChakra, and Pykih are some of the startups in its portfolio. The plan is to work with up to 60 startups every year.

“We are seeing many great startups come through Zone Startups India. Launching a fund to help rapidly advance these startups is a logical next step now that we have been able to establish a strong network in India with our partners,” president of Ryerson Futures Inc. Matt Saunders said in a statement announcing the fund. The reason why it teamed up with Anil Chokhani and Krishna Chokhani, who have been serial angel investors with Mumbai Angels, was to increase the size of Ryerson’s network and the amount of capital that can be invested.

Ryerson is the latest in a long line of VCs eyeing early stage investments in Indian startups. 500 Startups has been the most active in the last couple of years, and Lightbox just raised US$100 million to invest in consumer tech ventures. Even Sequoia Capital has skin in the game, as it raised a fourth US$530 million fund in May this year.

See: Meet the 5 startups from India chosen to be incubated in Canada