We invest in ‘cockroach’ entrepreneurs: SOSV’s William Bao Bean

This article was co-written by Avanish Tiwary.

SOSV, a Princeton and New Jersey-headquartered venture capital firm, made its first investment in India in December 2015. Through its “mobile-only” accelerator MOX, the firm backed Gift on the Go, but the startup didn’t last long. But that didn’t deter SOSV general partner William Bao Bean, who is also the managing director of the firm’s MOX and Chinaccelerator programs, from making bets in India.

SOSV’s William Bao Bean at Tech in Asia Jakarta 2018 / Photo credit: Sweet Escape

However, it did take three years before he went all out. Last year alone, Taipei-based MOX invested in 15 Indian startups, bringing the total number of its portfolio companies in the country to 22. MOX invests in apps, platforms, and services that target mobile-first and mobile-only users in markets such as India, Vietnam, and Indonesia. This year, Bean is eyeing more than 12 deals.

In an interaction with KrASIA, Bean said he believes that the timing and experience of entrepreneurs are very critical to their success. “We don’t invest in kids or super young founders,” he said.

To ramp up its operations in the world’s most populous country, SOSV brought in Naman Sehgal, former general manager of co-working company 91springboard, as its India director in November 2019.

KrASIA (Kr): How has the Indian market changed since you started investing here?

William Bao Bean (WBB): On the internet side, there are a couple of trends that have really opened things up for India, such as payments and inexpensive internet.

When you first go into a market, sometimes it doesn’t work that well. For the first couple of years after we entered India, we didn’t do that many investments compared to what we’ve done over the past 18 months.

I’d say India has a lot more foreign capital coming in. The capital is not constrained to people who went to Stanford and Harvard. For all the 15 deals I did in the last year, I didn’t really pay attention to where the people I invested in went to school. I focused more on what their traction was such as users, revenue, and engagement.

Kr: How many companies have MOX backed so far?

WBB: We have invested in 56 companies (via MOX), not all of them are still alive. Of these, 22 are Indian companies. The first company that we invested in was in December 2015: Gift on the Go. I’m pretty sure they are dead. We invest in entrepreneurs with a cockroach-like temperament: someone who never gives up.

SOSV has backed about 1,000 startups globally. According to TechCrunch 2018, we are the number five most active angel and seed investor in the world.

Kr: How has your strategy developed in India over the years?