500 Startups Establishes $25m Fund For South Asia

February 24, 2016 – Silicon Valley-based investment firm 500 Startups is establishing a $25 million fund for South Asia.
The firm, which has invested in over 50 startups in India, will invest in another 30-50 startups over the next year. 500 Startups has a $200 million corpus and has investments in more than 1,500 companies across 50 countries. It invested in 20 Indian startups last year.
While the fund will be sector-agnostic, the firm will take a closer look at startups in the financial, education and health sectors, apart from data analytics and software-as-a-service firms, the company said in a blog post on its website.
In another blog post, 500 Startups announced another $25 million global corpus to invest in financial technology startups.
“While the industry has been talking about doom and gloom hitting unicorns and startups alike, we believe the long-term opportunity remains as solid as ever. We see market changes as part of a natural cycle,” said Pankaj Jain, a partner with 500 Startups, who looks at the fund’s India portfolio.