Investment

Suzuki Launches ₹340-Crore Next Bharat Ventures Fund to Boost Social Impact Start-Ups

• ByStartupStory     |    July 5, 2024

Automotive giant Suzuki has unveiled Next Bharat Ventures, a venture investing arm with a dedicated corpus of ₹340 crore. The fund is designed to support the growth of social impact start-ups, particularly those addressing challenges in tier-II cities and less developed regions of India.

Next Bharat Ventures, established as a subsidiary of Suzuki, aims to empower India by backing impact entrepreneurs who create sustainable value for rural and informal sectors. The initiative underscores Suzuki’s commitment to nurturing a deep-rooted community of impact enablers dedicated to solving social problems through sustainable business practices.

“The primary mission is to cultivate and nurture a deep-rooted community of impact enablers in the country, who are solving social problems with sustainable business,” the company stated.

The investment arm will launch its operations with a residency program, the first cohort of which is set to commence in October this year. Applications for the program open on Thursday. Similar to the residency models of Antler and Y Combinator, Next Bharat’s program will focus on firms making a social impact through their business models.

Selection criteria for the program emphasize entrepreneurs who are impact-first, exhibit a clear problem-solving approach, and are committed to contributing to rural communities or the informal sector in India. Those chosen will become lifelong members of the Next Bharat community, benefiting from ongoing support and resources.

The platform will provide extensive mentorship from industry leaders, fostering opportunities for founders to collaborate, connect, and form a supportive network crucial for starting and running successful businesses.

Following the residency program, selected start-ups will receive equity investments ranging from ₹1 crore to ₹5 crore. The objective is to equip these ventures with essential knowledge, networks, and resources, including risk capital, to enable them to scale and evolve into small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Vipul Nath Jindal, an IIT Hyderabad alumnus, will lead this initiative as the CEO and Managing Director of Next Bharat. Jindal articulated the vision behind the fund: “We are embarking on this journey to cultivate an impact entrepreneurship ecosystem that is profoundly community-oriented. The Next Bharat investment framework focuses on horizontal scaling, aiming to create hundreds of profitable SMEs over a fund cycle, rather than concentrating on creating just two or three unicorns per fund cycle.”

Jindal further highlighted the collaborative aspect of the initiative, stating, “There are existing stakeholders in the ecosystem who are already enabling these amazing impact entrepreneurs in many ways. Our long-term ambition is to work closely with these stakeholders and bring them together to build compounding synergies within the ecosystem.”

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