Asset Manager

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GSF India

GSF India is a vertical agnostic early stage fund that has been founders for founders since 2012. It aims to empower disruptive founders with their first...

GSF India logo

GSF India

GSF India is a vertical agnostic early stage fund that has been founders for founders since 2012. It aims to empower disruptive founders with their first organized cheque, from incubation to seed. It is a tech-focused investor in India with over 110+ investments and a combined portfolio valuation exceeding $3 billion.

General information

Firm type

Generalist

Year founded

2012

Location

Region

Asia

Country

India

City

Gurgaon

Corporate office

Unitech Trade Center, Gurgaon, New Delhi, India

Principals

Rajesh Sawhney

Founder and General Partner

Sector focus

Enterprise SoftwareAI/MLFinTechWeb3 & CryptoMedia & Entertainment

Frequently asked questions

How does GSF India source proprietary deal flow?

Sourcing runs through Sawhney's position as a board member at TiE Delhi and his founding tenure at Times Internet, which gives him visibility into early-stage digital media and enterprise spins. Teruhide Sato surfaces cross-border Japanese and Southeast Asian opportunities, while the Paytm and IndiaMart founder networks frequently push referrals before deals reach competitive institutional rounds.

Does GSF India participate in fund commitments or only direct deals?

The firm's primary deployment is direct seed and early-stage equity. There is no public record of GSF India allocating via fund-of-fund commitments to other managers, though the alignment with IvyCap Ventures creates an indirect exposure through institutional co-investment structures that function alongside, rather than as, traditional fund commitments.

What investment stages does GSF India typically target?

GSF focuses on pre-seed and seed stages with selective follow-on participation in subsequent rounds. The accelerator heritage means it often enters at the idea or prototype phase, before institutional seed funds, and stays involved through early growth when the company intersects with later-stage partners like Paytm or IndiaMart.

How is GSF India related to Paytm and its founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma?

Vijay Shekhar Sharma is listed as a business partner and frequent co-investor, not as a formal GP or LP in GSF India. The relationship predates Paytm's public-market journey and functions as a founder-to-founder capital alliance: Sharma co-invests in selected GSF portfolio companies and occasionally surfaces deals through his own network, but Paytm the corporate entity is not a limited partner in GSF vehicles.

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