NEDFi Venture Capital Limited

How to approach NVCL

• Start with the NEVF inbox. Email a brief write-up or presentation about your business. The site does not offer an online form.
• Cover the headings it lists. Promoters, company, product and unique selling point, pain point, proof of concept and milestones, market size, sales plan, business model, funds needed and a brief financial forecast.
• Check which fund fits. The Manipur fund needs a Manipur domicile and a DPIIT recognised private limited company, and applications go through the Manipur startup site. The NRL fund also needs DPIIT recognition and has its own site.

What the site says it looks for

• A strong, committed management team and a founder with vision and the power to carry it out.
• A viable business model with sustainable growth and large scaling opportunities.
• A market-fit product with good traction.
• A realistic exit.

Before you write

• Expect equity. The funds invest through equity, preference shares and debentures.
• Ask about timing. The site publishes no intake dates and no portfolio, so ask whether the fund is still investing.

NEDFi Venture Capital Limited, also called NVCL, is the investment manager behind the North East Venture Fund, a venture capital fund for startups in India's north eastern region. It is based at NEDFi House in Dispur, Guwahati, Assam, and was incorporated on 2nd August 2016 as a wholly owned subsidiary of the North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Limited (NEDFi). It takes equity or equity-linked stakes in startups; it is not a grant giver.

What it manages

NVCL describes itself as the investment manager of venture funds, and its Funds page lists three. The North East Venture Fund (NEVF) is a Category I venture capital fund sponsored by NEDFi, with the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (M-DoNER) and NEDFi named as anchor investors. The Manipur Startup Venture Fund (MSVF) is a Category I venture capital fund with the Department of Planning, Government of Manipur as nodal agency. The NRL Ideation Angel Fund is a Category I venture capital fund set up as an angel fund. All three invest through equity, preference shares and debentures, and the Manipur and NRL funds also use convertible notes.

Who it backs

For NEVF, the entry criteria on the site are an entrepreneur with an innovative vision and the power to carry it out, a strong management team, a viable business model with sustainable growth, large scaling opportunities, a market-fit product with good traction, and a realistic exit. The Manipur fund is narrower: it asks for a founder with a domicile of Manipur by birth, a startup recognised by both the Government of Manipur and DPIIT and registered as a private limited company, and an early revenue growth-stage business with a market-fit product or service and room to scale, using technology in its core offer. The NRL fund asks for a DPIIT recognised private limited startup, a scalable model with a lasting competitive advantage, a large identified market, high entry barriers and a clear exit.

How to get in front of the team

The For Entrepreneurs page asks you to email a brief write-up or presentation about your business to the NEVF inbox. It lists what to cover: the promoters and top management and their contact details; the company, its location, structure and shareholding; the product or service, its unique selling point, the pain point it solves and what makes it different; the proof of concept and milestones reached so far; the size of the market and your sales and distribution plan; and your business model, the funds you need and how you would use them, with a brief financial forecast. For the Manipur and NRL funds, the site sends you to those funds' own application sites instead.

What is not published

The site gives no application window, no round dates and no promise of a reply time. Its Portfolio page only says coming soon, so there is no list of backed companies to check. Much of the home page news dates from the years after the fund was announced, so confirm with the team that a fund is still investing before you spend time on a proposal. The Our Team page lists the investment, legal and associate team at NVCL, and the board page lists NEDFi's leadership. The Funds page shows each fund's SEBI registration, which you can check against SEBI's own register.