VC fund MSA Novo invests $15m in 6 Indian startups

Multi-stage global venture capital firm MSA Novo, announced that it has invested more than $16 million in six Indian startups and plans to further inject funds into the Indian startup ecosystem by the end of 2023.

The venture firm invested in startups such as MPL, Slice, Jar, Apps For Bharat, Flint, and Questbook, focussing on early and growth-stage tech-enabled startups.

“We are incredibly bullish on investing in India. Of all emerging markets, it has the strongest fundamentals in the depth of its entrepreneur base, engineering talent, total addressable market, capital availability and public market maturity,” said Ben Harburg, general partner at MSA Novo.

He adds: “We believe we are still in the early innings of evolution in the Indian technology market and we believe that we can be a high-value additive participant by bringing our global playbook, institutional best practices and connectivity to help Indian companies accelerate their growth.”

Founded by Harburg, MSA Novo is a global venture capital investing systematically across emerging markets since 2019. Harburg is an investment veteran with more than 14 years of experience of investing across Greater China, United States, Southeast Asia, and Middle East markets.

The global fund boasts a strong portfolio of over 50 companies, including NuBank and Xeplin of Latin America, TradeDepot and Nestcoin in Sub-Saharan Africa, and Kitopi, Tabby, and Cassbana in the MENA region. The firm’s sector focus is concentrated on core infrastructure layers in financial services and commerce enablers.

Apart from India, MSA Novo is also looking to systematically invest in South East Asian countries like Indonesia, Vietnam and Singapore. The global venture capital firm has also set up ground operations in India with an office in Delhi in 2022, with Prakhar Khanduja joining them early this year to lead India investments.

Commencing its operations in 2019, MSA Novo has raised a $200-million Venture Fund and a $150-million Growth Fund despite the disruptions caused by the global pandemic.