South Park Commons: Taking a Bold Step into India’s Startup Scene
South Park Commons, a vibrant collective of engineers, founders, and researchers from Silicon Valley, is gearing up to launch an India-specific fund. This strategic move comes about six months after their entry into the South Asian market in June. According to a recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the fund aims to raise $40 million, although the precise amount is still under wraps.
The brainchild of Ruchi Sanghvi, Facebook’s first female engineer, South Park Commons was founded in 2016. Their venture into India began last year through a partnership with Flipkart’s co-founder, Binny Bansal. This marked the platform’s first global expansion, setting up its India chapter in Bengaluru after successfully raising three funds supporting early-stage startups in the U.S.
“We aim to support technologists with compelling ideas who might not yet be ready for fundraising,” the company explains in its FAQ, describing their focus as the “-1 to 0” stage.
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In 2018, Sanghvi was joined by her husband and business partner, Aditya Agarwal, formerly Dropbox’s VP of engineering. Unlike traditional VC funds or incubators like Y Combinator, South Park Commons offers two unique programs: Community Membership for entrepreneurs not seeking capital immediately and Founder Fellowship, which provides $1 million in total funding ($400,000 upon joining and an additional $600,000 for future ventures).
- Community Membership: For entrepreneurs not currently seeking funding
- Founder Fellowship: Total funding of $1 million for promising founders
The collective boasts around 175 active members and more than 800 alumni. Approximately 80% are founders, while the rest are domain experts and researchers. Recently, Prateek Mehta from Angel One joined as the founding partner for their India outpost.
India’s startup landscape presents both opportunities and challenges. Despite being home to over 149,000 startups, government data shows only 117 have reached unicorn status (valuation of at least $1 billion). This dynamic market has attracted global VC funds like Accel and General Catalyst to remain optimistic about India’s potential. However, others such as SoftBank and Tiger Global have found it tough going.
Y Combinator’s selection of Indian startups paints a similar picture; they chose just four from India for their 2024 batches, down from eight in 2023 and 47 in 2022.
Sanghvi and Agarwal have yet to comment on this latest development.
