By Founders.
For Founders.
We are a group of entrepreneurs that love building and scaling tech products and companies. With First Cheque, we are now investing in the next generation of Indian technology entrepreneurs
WHO WE ARE
Built and Exited Founders, Product Leaders, Growth Leaders, and also Angel Investors. A lot of change we bring is in how to think based on first principles, based on data. We help you build a data-driven organization, set up teams for performance et al. Most importantly, we help you unlock growth.
WHAT WE KNOW
Product + Growth
Design growth into your product from day one, and then let the product take responsibility of growth instead of pushing it to marketing.
Performance Engineering
Work with us to choose the right battle-ready technologies and algorithms which can lay the foundation of rapid scaling. A thriving community that will enjoy troubleshooting for you.
Next Round
Fundraising has its own nuances, especially in the early stages. We will help you track the right metrics and connect you with relevant funds for your next round.
Organization Design
Interview hacks, best offer strategies, designing the right job descriptions, ESOP schemes that people actually aspire for, we work with you on all of these.
Curve Balls
A Startup’s journey almost never goes as planned. We are experienced troubleshooters and help founders deal with the uncertainties of this lonely journey.
HOW WE WORK
First Cheque invests wherever our venture partners invest. Reach out to any of us directly or get an introduction to any of us.
Show us your product, not your deck. If there is no deck, just write to any of us and ask for a call. Large markets preferred over niche ones. And deep tech preferred over cupcake stores.
Usually, the Venture Partner who wants to back you + First Cheque the Fund, will together invest a minimum of 25 Lakh and a maximum of Rs 1Cr depending on your round size and how much space you have. You can find a more detailed post on how we operate here.
Show us your product, not your deck. If there is no deck, just write to any of us and ask for a call. Large markets preferred over niche ones. And deep tech preferred over cupcake stores.
Usually, the Venture Partner who wants to back you + First Cheque the Fund, will together invest a minimum of 25 Lakh and a maximum of Rs 1Cr depending on your round size and how much space you have. You can find a more detailed post on how we operate here.
If you feel you are absolutely unable to make contact with any of our venture partners, then please apply to First Cheque here
INVESTMENTS
Millenial Silver Jewellery Brand
No-Code Platform for building Interactive Apps within Email
Live Online Hobby Classes for Children
Fleet Management SAAS for optimizing Fleet and logistics operations
IOT Enabled RO Purifier on Subscription .
One Stop End to End Apparel sourcing managed marketplace
FAQs
1What unique value does First Cheque offer to founders ?
We get involved with the founders and help them reach their next critical milestone. Working with us unlocks access to a kick-ass network of successful founder angels, who have - been there done that. You can expect support from us on Technology, Product and hiring along with access to larger investors who could lead your next round.
Besides support from us and our venture partners (Founder Angels), we are building a close-knit community of founders that we have invested in via our monthly meetups in all major Indian cities. These meetups are focussed sessions on helping our founders reach product market fit and solve for their next round.
2When and how much does First Cheque usually invest in a company and at what valuation ?
Along with our lead Venture Partner - we invest a minimum of Rs 25 Lakhs and a maximum of Rs 1 Cr as part of a larger pre-seed/seed round. Usually founders ping us when they are raising Rs 50L to Rs 3Cr. We are happy to lead rounds or co-invest with someone else leading too. Typically, we see participation from friends, family, other angels/ small funds/microVCs etc. Generally we see these rounds happen at an INR 5Cr - 15Cr valuation, depending on the stage of the company, however the valuation is not the primary criteria for us. More about how we operate in this detailed blog post.
3What are your investment terms ?
We don’t ask for any special terms. We are happy to invest at the same terms and valuation as your lead - in fact we will call it out if your lead sneaks in any predatory terms.
4Which type of startups do you like ?
We are sector agnostic. We back strong teams building tech products for large markets - it’s a little vague but then that’s what early stage is like :)
5How many companies do you plan to invest in ?
We have invested in 80+ companies since starting out in 2019. We do 30-40 investments every year. Here's a review of investments we made in 2020.
6What is your evaluation process ?
Founders can pitch to any one of our venture partners (i.e. the founders/operator angels listed on our Team page.) and if they decide to invest , the First Cheque Fund will automatically invest with them. Usually we decide within two - three interactions. In case you can't reach out to them or are unable to get anyone to introduce you to any of them, please fill in this form
7What geographies do you look at while investing ?
Our Venture Partners are spread out throughout the country and we are happy to look at companies from all over India!
8How to reach First Cheque?
We highly recommend that you hustle to get an intro to one of our venture partners! If you are unable to do that, please send in your application via this form.
For anything else, please feel free to write to our Investment Associate Anurag at anurag@firstcheque.vc