Helion Ventures Partners

HELION VENTURES PARTNERS
INTRODUCTION
Helion Ventures Partners is a $600 million venture fund based in Mauritius. It invests in early to mid-stage companies in India in sectors such as Outsourcing, Internet, Mobile, Technology Products, Retail, Education and Financial Services. Helion is advised by a team of advisors based in India. The advisors help the fund to select companies to invest in. And post investment the advisors work with the companies in areas such as finance, HR, technology, marketing and operations. They believe that companies are fundamentally built from inside, but as Board members they play an active role. Typically they help companies in making strategic choices and in building an organization that can execute on strategy. They have access to world-class executives that they can bring to our portfolio companies. They also help in building a high quality Board of Directors / Advisors. They also team with the management and provide operational value add in the area of finance, HR, technology, marketing and operations. In helping manage rapid growth, they participate in future rounds of financing in syndication with other venture partners. Their prior experience in M&A is also available to entrepreneurs in driving inorganic growth.
INVESTMENTS IN INDIA
Helion has invested in more than a dozen startup companies including Make My Trip, redBus, Komli Media and SMS Gupshup.The VC firm looks at an IRR of 25% and has made two successful exits; Makemytrip and Redbus. While Makemytrip went for an IPO, Redbus was bought by Nasper They invest roughly $50 million each year, so this gives them enough dry powder for four to five years. Helion has previously invested in companies across sectors like mobile, education, healthcare, financial services and retail. The fund managers said they will continue to focus on these sectors. According to Sanjeev Aggarwal, their business is more about continuity than change. They have twin themes, businesses that leverage technology and businesses that are in consumer services category. Both these themes are accelerating given the Indian demographics and growth rates. Helion is also expecting to see more exits in the next 12-36 months. First venture: Raised $140 million in 2006 Second venture: Raised $210 million in March 2008 Third venture: Raised $255million in 2012
INVESTMENT IN MAKE MY TRIP, 2006

Indias largest online travel company, MakeMyTrip.com raised $13 million in its second round of funding. The investment came from three blue-chip venture capital firms - Helion Ventures, Sierra Ventures and existing investors, SB Asia Infrastructure Fund (SAIF). Sanjeev Aggarwal, Managing Director, Helion Ventures Pvt.Ltd believes that MakeMyTrip.com is the clear leader in the rapidly growing online travel space in India and Helion is proud to be associated with it. He believes that MakeMyTrip.com stands apart in an increasingly crowded marketplace due to a winning combination that brings together deep experience in the online travel business, a world class management team, a strong and wellestablished network of fulfillment options and the ability to continually innovate as the market leader.
MakeMyTrip was on track to record sales of Rs.600 crores (USD 130M) in the fiscal year ending March 07, effectively registering a growth of 200% from the previous year. Since its launch of online travel services in India, MakeMyTrip has grown rapidly to become the largest issuer of air- tickets in the country and also the leading seller of hotel reservations and holidays in India. Sanjeev Aggarwal, Managing Director, Helion Ventures Pvt. Ltd and Tim Guleri, Managing Director, Sierra Ventures joined the board of directors, which comprises eminent industry experts, Mr. Philip C. Wolf, globally renowned travel guru, Mr. Sanjeev Bhikchandani, Founder and CEO, Naukri.com and Mr. Frederic Lalonde, a former Expedia senior executive, besides Ravi Adusumalli of SAIF and senior management of MMT.
INVESTMENT IN 9.9 MEDIAWORKS PVT.LTD, 2008

Helion Ventures and TVS Shriram Growth Fund invested $7.5 million in 9.9 Mediaworx Pvt Ltd, a diversified media company focused on niche consumer, business and professional communities. Sanjeev Aggarwal, MD of Helion, and Gopal Srinivasan, CMD of TVS Capital, joined the 9.9 Media Board. Announcing the investment, Pramath Raj Sinha, Founder & MD of 9.9 Media, said that they were fortunate to have such first-rate investors as Helion and TVS Shriram Growth Fund as partners in their journey to build a next-gen media company.In particular, they are excited that two seasoned entrepreneurs in Sanjeev and Gopal joined their Board. The funds were utilised to fund growth and the launch of new products and services.
Sanjeev Aggarwal was impressed with how much the 9.9 team was able to achieve in a short period of time. At a time when media in India was expanding and growing rapidly, he saw
9.9 Media as the ideal vehicle to extend their portfolio into the media space.
INVESTMENT IN QSR- MAST KALANDAR

Helion Ventures along with Footprint Ventures invested additional R32.5 Cr ($6 Mn) in Mast Kalandar, a QSR chain run by Spring Leaf Retail Private Limited.The funds raised were utilized to expand its number of outlets from 40 to 100 across 8 cities in next 18 months. In the third round of investment, Helion Ventures invested $5 Mn while the balance is infused by Footprint Ventures in ethnic Indian food chain that has now raised a total of $11 Mn in equity capital. Mast Kalandar is a North Indian quick service restaurant chain, promoted by Gaurav Jain and Pallavi Gupta. It has steadily grown to 40 outlets in 4 cities in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune in the last six years. The chain currently serves two lakh customers every month across its outlets. With over 550 employees, Mast Kalandar operates on a hub and spoke supply chain model. The Indian 'eating out' market is estimated at around R33,000 Cr by retail consultancy Technopak Advisors. The organised sector is valued at about R8,000 Cr and growing by 2025%. The QSR space in India faces challenges such as long gestation periods, rising real estate costs and complexity of logistics and back-end operations. The firm said the fund raising process took longer this time around. Aggarwal attributed this to competition from an increasing number of funds and from other markets, India's low performance has also led to a dampening in investor interest. He added that India hasn't yet delivered on its promise so there is lot more scrutiny on whether they can live up to its potential.
HELION VENTURES TO INVEST IN START UPS

Helion Venture is planning to fund startups such as online and e-commerce companies and firms that develop mobile applications, from its latest fund, BL states. The fund is also looking at investing in companies developing enterprise software, both software-as-a-service (SaaS) hosted on cloud and premise-based software. Companies operating in the healthcare sector could also be the target investments. Helion had recently invested $10 Mn in edu-platform Simplilearn along with Kalaari Capital.
RECENT INVESTMENTS, 2013

PUNE-BASED SOFTWARE COMPANIES Helion Venture Partners is looking at investing 10-15% of its $250 million fund in Punebased software product companies over the next two-three years. The first deal could take place in the next two quarters, according to Sanjeev Aggarwal, senior managing director, Helion Venture Partners. So far, they have funded entrepreneurs in Bangalore and the National Capital Region (NCR), that is, around Delhi. They see many companies in Pune developing enterprise software products for the globe. Their prime interest is to see if they can have the next Oracle or SAP from a city like Pune because they want a made-in-India product for the globe. Software exports from Pune are pegged at about 10% of the country total. A typical firstround funding is in the region of $2-3 million in a company, with a similar amount in a follow-up round. Helion was set up by entrepreneurs who have focused primarily on funding software services companies. It is now looking at companies such as those that develop software for disaster recovery management across industries and time management or in supply chain and human resource management software. Mr. Sanjeev Aggarwal finds Pune to be a hot centre because of its educational base which has led it to be the captive research centre for several global product companies, so the technical talent is available there. They would like to supplement it with sales talent so that the company can scale up and achieve what they want: a product developed in India for the globe.
LIFE CELL INTERNATIONAL LifeCell International, a stem cell bank, secured an investment of Rs. 35 crore from Helion Venture Partners, to support its plans of increasing market penetration of stem cell banking in India and also enabling the development of novel cell-based therapies. Mayur Abhaya, CEO and Managing Director, LifeCell International, told this correspondent that the company, started in 2004, was the market leader in preservation of stem cells from various human tissues such as umbilical cord and menstrual blood, having serviced over 65,000 clients across 110 locations in India and abroad. According to Kanwaljit Singh, Senior Managing Director, Helion Advisors, the investment was in line with Helions on-going strategy to invest behind high quality entrepreneurs in industries with high growth potential. Helion was the first venture capital firm to invest in a stem cell banking company in India.

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HELION VENTURES PARTNERS

INVESTMENT IN MAKE MY TRIP, 2006

INVESTMENT IN 9.9 MEDIAWORKS PVT.LTD, 2008

INVESTMENT IN QSR- MAST KALANDAR

HELION VENTURES TO INVEST IN START UPS

RECENT INVESTMENTS, 2013

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