500 Startups has announced 500 Kulfi, a $25 million fund focused on India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The fund will focus on early stage companies that have demonstrated traction, and will look to invest in up to 25-50 startups every year. The fund will be sector agnostic, with a focus on financial tech, education tech, health & wellness, content, data analytics and SaaS/SMB. Pankaj Jain, partner at 500 Startups, will run the 500 Kulfi fund. Note that he was appointed by the company to focus on India back in 2012. As of now 500 Startups claims to have invested in over 50 companies in India since 2011, including investments in startups like ZipDial, Instamojo, SourceEasy, CultureAlley, SilverPush, KartRocket and Headout. 500 Startups provides early-stage companies with up to $250,000 in funding, a startup accelerator program, and conducts events like SmashSummit, UnSexy, and GeeksOnaPlane. It has startup mentors around the world, and a community of startup founders, assisting new ventures under the program. Other accelerators in India: - Earlier this month, HT Media said that it had invested Rs 1.5 crore in new media startups through its MediaHacks accelerator. The company launched this accelerator in May last year, specifically for early stage startups in media. - In December last year, Flexeye opened HyperCat, an accelerator and incubator centre for Internet of Things (IoT) startups in Hyderabad. - In November, French aircraft maker Airbus said it would set up Airbus BizLab, its aerospace startup accelerator, in Bangalore. - In August, Intel India…
