The Mumbai-based investment firm has created a new model for funding and nurturing early-stage startups. The $3 million it has put into 70 companies so far has snowballed into $43 million of follow-on funding from marque angels, family offices and big name VCs
When Shashank Moddhia was pitching The Renal Project, his two-three bed dialysis centre startup plan, at an NMIMS-organised pitch fest in late-2019, Sanjay Mehta, veteran tech entrepreneur and angel investor, was in the audience. At the time, Moddhia ran just one micro-centre in Mumbai’s Borivali suburb. Although it was profitable, it was a brick-and-mortar business—one that VCs would typically shy away from funding.
But Mehta saw something special in Moddhia. “He was driven by purpose. He wanted to reduce deaths by making affordable dialysis accessible to everyone.” He cut him a cheque for Rs25 lakh from his newly-minted investment firm 100X.VC.