1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Sumant Mandal, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at March Capital (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: You have been around for a long time and so have I. We have come from this era in Silicon Valley where people would not invest in companies that are more than 15 miles away from them. Now, people are investing without meeting people. What is your current thesis around what geography you are comfortable investing in?  

Sumant Mandal: We, as a firm, never have been of the mindset that if I live in Southern California, then I want to be a Southern Californian investor. I was with one of my investors yesterday. I’ve lived in the Los Angeles – Santa Monica area for 20 years. I have been investing for 20 years, but I have only invested in two companies in LA.

All of my companies have been all around the world. Mostly, I would say I am focused on either the Bay area or India because that is where I have relationships and networks. It is a little about who you know and where you know them. That envelope has expanded dramatically.

The opportunity set has also expanded dramatically. Ten years ago, there weren’t such opportunities. Right now, we are deep in diligence on a payments company in Brazil. Five years ago, I wouldn’t have thought of it. 

Sramana Mitra: Are you going to invest in that company if it passes all the business due diligence without meeting them?

Sumant Mandal: First, we know one of the board members well. It helps to have a relationship with someone that you trust. Second, it is an area that we know well. We have done payments for the last 20 years. We were the first investors in PayPal, so we have seen the evolution of that ecosystem. Third, we have people around us who know Brazil well. They know what is happening on the ground.

I personally don’t know it well, but we have people around us. That gives me comfort that at least we know what we are getting into. We have a company in the gaming space that we invested in that is located in Berlin. If it was a company building its business in Berlin, selling into Europe where we have no way to add value and understand what they are doing, we probably wouldn’t have invested.

They were keen to open an office in LA and expand their footprint in the gaming universe in the US. That becomes more interesting for us because now we can help them. They know what we can do for them. They opened their US office in our office, so we had some insight into what was going on. There is always some angle of why it is interesting. 

Sramana Mitra: Absolutely, and it includes how to value and how to manage the company also. You articulately explained what you are going to do with Brazil and what you cannot do with Berlin perhaps if it wasn’t a US-facing company. 

Sumant Mandal: We have a list of 100 companies that are developing SaaS software in India that we have been following. We already have had interactions with 25 of those companies. Their interest is, “How can we work with a fund that can invest in our Series B, C, or D and help us build a footprint in the US? We’ve maybe generated $5 million or $10 million selling into India, Vietnam, Middle East, and Europe, but now we need help to enter the US market.” That is exciting for us. 

Sramana Mitra: After we finish the session today, I will send you a company from our portfolio. It is a cybersecurity company based in India. It already has a $1 million ARR. They are potentially looking for an exit. Since you mentioned that you have a bunch of cybersecurity companies in your portfolio that are looking to build through others, then that might be a good fit. 

Sumant Mandal: Yes, please do. 

Sramana Mitra: It was very nice to see you again. Thank you for your time.

This segment is part 6 in the series : 1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Sumant Mandal, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at March Capital
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