1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Ben Mathias of Vertex Ventures (Part 1)

Responding to a popular request, we are now sharing transcripts of our investor podcast interviews in this new series. The following interview with Ben Mathias of Vertex Ventures was recorded in March 2018.

Ben Mathias, Managing Partner at Vertex Ventures, India, discusses the trends and dynamics of the Indian startup ecosystem, including exits. India needs exits at this point, even if they’re relatively small exits.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing you to our audience. Give us some background about yourself and some background about Vertex Ventures.

Ben Mathias: I became a VC about 11 years ago. Before that, I was a tech guy working in Silicon Valley in the enterprise software industry. I moved to India about 10 years ago to start VC investing here. I joined Vertex three years ago. We are a global network of funds headquartered out of Singapore. We have active funds in the US, China, and Israel. I’m a part of the Southeast Asia and India fund. We’re an early-stage tech-focused fund. We typically invest in Series A. Sometimes, Series B. Our initial check size is between $2 million and $5 million. We reserve money for follow-ons.

Sramana Mitra: How big is the fund?

Ben Mathias: The Southeast Asia and India fund is $210 million. We closed late last year.

Sramana Mitra: Just FYI, we had your Israel partner here recently as well.

Ben Mathias: Yes, I saw that.

Sramana Mitra: What sectors do you like to focus on?

Ben Mathias: We’ve done a variety of software investments both in Southeast Asia as well as in India. I’ll give you some of the recent examples. We invested in a company called ActiveAI, which is a software for computational banking. It’s a company that originated out of both Singapore and India but now is selling globally including in North America.

We also invest in a company called Flutura which is industry IoT analytics. That’s a company that originated in Bangalore but is now deployed in several large oil and gas companies in the US and in Europe. We look at all types of software.

Sramana Mitra: B2B, though, mostly?

Ben Mathias: I wouldn’t say that. We’ve done both B2B and B2C. We have a very strong B2C portfolio as well. For example, we were the first investor in Grab, which is the ride-sharing service in Southeast Asia. We are also investors in M17 which is one of the largest video streaming companies in Asia. We’ve done a lot of B2C. A lot of our recent investments have been in B2B and FinTech across Southeast Asia and India.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s spend a few minutes talking about geography. What is the boundary of where you like to invest? I’d also like to understand configuration. We obviously cover India very extensively. As you know, we have a big presence in India. We have come to observe a bunch of trends that I’d like to discuss with you. Why don’t you start and I’ll probe?

Ben Mathias: In terms of geography, we are a Southeast Asia and India-focused fund. Other than India, we also invest in companies in Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia. We are looking at opportunities in Thailand and Vietnam as well. From an India standpoint, we invest in companies that focus on India as a market.

We also invest in companies that originate in India but focus on global markets. A lot of those companies tend to evolve into being cross-border companies with typically, one founder in India and one in the US. In some cases, they even ship their incorporation to the US.

Sramana Mitra: Would it be fair to say that your consumer investment is in the markets that you’re in whereas the B2B investment is global?

Ben Mathias: That’s correct. If a consumer investment originated in India, it stays focused on the Indian market. If it’s a company that originated in Southeast Asia, they tend to expand across the region and they eventually expand to all the Southeast Asian economies. Grab, for example, is now in most of the Southeast Asian countries.

This segment is part 1 in the series : 1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Ben Mathias of Vertex Ventures
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