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Profitability-focused early-stage and SME venture capital
ISF Special Opportunity Fund (IN/AIF1/18-19/0575) is a SEBI-registered Category I AIF managed by Indian Startup Factory Private Limited. Indian Startup Factory (ISF) is a New-Delhi based financial services company founded in 2016 by Kapil Kaul. It received SEBI's final acknowledgement to launch the ISF Special Opportunity Fund — a USD 27.8 million (INR 200 crore) maiden India venture capital fund. The fund invests in startups at early and growth stage, as well as SMEs and MSMEs across sectors, with a sector-agnostic mandate. ISF applies PE-style diligence at VC ticket sizes: 'We have a vision of doing diligence as a private equity and investing a ticket size of a venture capital.' The SEBI registration address — C9, First Floor, Pamposh Enclave, Greater Kailash 1, New Delhi – 110048 — is Kapil Kaul's home/registered office, not a commercial space.
ISF's fund mantra is based on profitability: 'We are not here to make investments as a betting game market, but rather make significant and real companies, having clear prospects of a healthy bottom line.' ISF focuses on startups where operational profitability is already clear or where the startup is looking forward to operational profitability within 12–18 months of investment. Ticket sizes: USD 200K to USD 3–4 million, with a target portfolio of 15–20 startups. ISF also plans an incubation-centric model to offer mentoring, guidance, and business expert support.
Kapil Kaul
FMFounder & Fund Manager, Indian Startup Factory; SEBI Contact Person
Kapil Kaul has more than a decade of leadership experience in vetting scalable and investable startup and SME opportunities, with strong cross-border exposure and 30+ investments across 300+ evaluated deals at varied levels of the investment cycle — seed to VC to PE. He served as Executive Director at Duke Equity (US-India PE firm, 2006–2012), executing global acquisitions, strategic partnerships, and JVs. At IndusInd Bank (2013) he set up a new SME Advisory vertical under Business Banking. He is an Engineering graduate in Computer Science and a Law graduate from University of Delhi, with a Doctorate in AI from IIT Delhi.
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