Jumpstartup to invest in product support company

BANGALORE: Venture capital firm Jumpstartup Fund Advisors, which focuses on

early stage venture funding, has made its second investment in India. The new

startup, which has received the investment, offers support services on IT

product usage. The name of the new company, the first of its kind in the

country, is not yet known. Jumpstartup will invest $2 million in the startup in

a phased manner.

Speaking about the new investment, Jumpstartup managing director Sanjay

Anandaram said, "There are companies that offer technology support.

However, they do not focus on products. Both individuals and organizations, many

a times, require urgent support in handling products. Moreover, there is a fast

increase in the kinds of products and devices that are arriving in the market.

The new company offers support, through chat, voice and email, on all the

products and devices available in the market."

The company will primarily focus on corporate customers. However, individuals

too will be able to get their answers for free on its Web site. How will the

corporate customers be charged? "There are several modes of payment

possible," said Mr Anandaram. Customers could pay at the rate of per month

per device or per transaction or per month per agent. The company will offer

round the clock support.

This is the second company where Jumpstartup has made investments, the first

one being Apnaloan.com, which facilitates online credit cards and loan

requirements. According to Mr Anandaram, Jumpstartup plans to invest in about

three more companies by the end of the year.

Jumpstartup has a corpus of about $45 million, which it plans to invest in

about 20 companies. "There is no time frame set to invest this amount, said

Mr Anandaram. He added that though his company would invest in companies from

all sectors, "the domains we are looking at are intellectual property,

wireless, telecom and embedded devices."

He said that despite the recent crash of Internet companies in the

international market, Jumpstartup was not ‘disinterested’ in dotcoms.

"We have not seen anything yet. There are several players yet to enter this

field. During the next 18-24 months, Net users in India will rise exponentially.

We will have 13-15 million Internet users in the country in the next two years.

The dotcoms that survive will do very well at that time," said Mr

Anandaram.

He also called for the revival of the now defunct Indian Venture Capital

Association (IVCA). "There is a need for the venture capital firms to come

together to lobby with the government to rationalize rules related to

investments by VCs," he added.