Venture Catalysts launches FamilyOffice network initiative to facilitate start-up investments for family owned businesses and big corporate houses

Platform aimed at projecting start-up investments as a high potential asset class and facilitating legacy business houses invest in the most promising start-ups
Mumbai, August 29, 2019:-Family businesses are the oldest and most recognized model of economic organization. Some of the biggest business houses and corporations today started out as family run enterprises which went on to become highly successful and diverse economic giants. In order to facilitate these businesses enter the start-up ecosystem and presenting start-up investment as a high potential asset class, Venture Catalysts, India’s first, largest and pioneering integrated incubator and accelerator platform, recently launched the FamilyOffice initiative, a network to connect family owned business houses and big corporates with the most promising start-ups. The event was held recently in Mumbai and was attended by leading business figures such as Family Office of Marico and Promoters of Family owned businesses of Ddecor, UB Cotton, RAS Group and Donear Industries. In its capacity, Venture Catalysts will be playing the role of a facilitator, extending complete support in identification, curation, diligence and post investment procedures leveraging its massive expertise in the domain.
FamilyOffice will serve as the one-stop enabler for its network members to invest in the most promising start-ups across sectors from Angel stage of funding to Series B. The initiative aims to significantly boost the prospects of India’s thriving start-up ecosystem by bringing more funding opportunities and projecting the segment as a lucrative investment alternative and an ideal way to diversify enterprise portfolio.
Commenting on the initiative, Dr. Apoorv Ranjan Sharma, President and Co-founder, Venture Catalysts said, “The FamilyOffice network is the first-of-its-kind network dedicated at integrating family owned business houses and big corporate houses into India’s start-up fabric. Through our business interactions, we realized a large number of legacy business houses wanted to take an active part in the start-up ecosystem, but were unsure where to start from. FamilyOffice will fill this need gap, guiding them in a sustained manner to ensure their investment decisions are optimized. FamilyOffice’s operations will be spread across Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, London, Dubai and Singapore, anchoring the best deals involving both national and international stakeholders.”
Highlighting the need for such initiatives, Atul Nishar, Founder and Chairman of Hexaware Technologies and a member of the NASSCOM Executive Council, said “For a family office right asset allocation is very important to maximise returns & reduce risk. Investing in the exciting new world of startups upto certain % of wealth – say 5 % to 15 % can improve overall returns.”
Amit Patni, Director of Campden Family Connect, a JV between Amit’s family office RAAY Global Investments and UK based Campden Wealth added, “Family Offices represent some of the long-term capital in today’s markets. However, the investment process varies depending on the vintage, experience, and maturity of the office. A Family Office generally has a large quantum of wealth and prefers long-term investments as every Family invests with an aim to not just grow but also preserve wealth across generations. Hence, deals are evaluated not only from a profit-making perspective but also in alignment with a family’s value system. Having a platform that can assist in identifying a fine-tuned and a well-researched pitch that aligns with the value framework will help family offices a lot. At the same time, entrepreneurs and start-ups can tap into this pool of funds and leverage on the entrepreneurial DNA running in the family.”
Venture Catalysts has established itself as the single most dedicated platform aimed at taking the Indian start-up ecosystem from strength to strength. It has empowered start-ups as well as investors throughout the country through its massive, streamlined and highly transparent network aimed at offering promising ideas and talented teams the best ecosystem to grow their businesses in. Recently, Venture Catalysts also started 9Unicorns, India’s first accelerated VC programme aimed at finding the next ‘unicorn’ businesses emerging from India.
 
About Venture Catalysts (@vcatsIndia) 
Venture Catalysts is India’s first integrated incubator. It invests $250K – $1.5 Million in early stage startups that has potential to create enduring value for over a long period of time. Venture Catalysts brings lethal combination of Capital, Mentoring and Business Network to help investee companies to succeed. Our innovation provides value to startups through its angel network, funding, community, services and co-working facility.