Rajesh Mane

Co-Founder

Mumbai, India15 yrs 6 mos experience

Key Highlights

  • Invested in 180+ early stage startups.
  • Founded Weekend Ventures, leading a community of 10,000+ founders.
  • Active investor in category leaders like BharatPe and VideoVerse.
Stackforce AI infers this person is a seasoned investor in early-stage tech and consumer brands.

Contact

Skills

Other Skills

AlgorithmsBusiness ModelingBusiness StrategyCC++DesignsElectronicsElectronics Devices DesignEmbedded SystemsEntrepreneurshipGraphic DesignHTMLMatlabMicrocontrollersProbability

About

Apply for investment here : https://founderfirst.org/investment----------------I invest in early stage tech companies & consumer brands, fortunate to be investing for 13+ years. I frequently write & share my learnings / free resources for startups.An active investor in 180+ early stage startups, some of the category leaders like Pixis, VideoVerse, Zypp, BharatPe, ShopKiarana, Confirmtkt (exited to ixigo), Beardo (exited to Marico), Innov8 (exited to OYO Rooms), Vahanalytics (exited to Rapido), HomeCapital (backed by Nabard) & many others.Been part of startup ecosystem in India since 2011, founded Weekend Ventures & lead community 10,000+ founders. In 2015, I joined Venture Catalysts as the founding team member, since then I've interacted with over 23,000+ startups & lead group investments 90+ startups. I enjoy working with early stage, mission driven founders & learn from them. Being able to make a positive impact in founder's journey is deeply satisfying, I'm always open to connect with bold, resilient founders!

Experience

Spotlight strategic partners

Cofounder & Managing Partner

May 2025Present · 10 mos · India · On-site

  • Apply for investment here : https://founderfirst.org/investment
  • Backing resilient founders in cutting-edge industries. Investing at the Pre-Seed and Seed stages across AI, Software, Deeptech, Consumer Brands, Financial Services among other sectors.

Ukhi

Investor

Nov 2024Present · 1 yr 4 mos · India

  • Material science company with proprietary EcoGran™ technology converts hemp stalks, rice stubble, and other crop residues into high-quality, sustainable packaging materials.

Aikenist technologies

Investor

Oct 2024Present · 1 yr 5 mos · India

  • AI-powered Radiology Suite designed to support Radiologists, Hospitals, and Imaging Centers by streamlining workflows, reducing workloads, and increasing revenue.

Flam

Investor

Nov 2023Present · 2 yrs 4 mos · United States

  • AI infrastructure that powers immersive advertising for brands across every channel — Digital, Broadcast TV, Retail, Communications, Print, OOH, and beyond.
  • Investors : $22M (RTP Global, Inventus Capital Partners, SV Quad among others)

Let's try

Investor

Aug 2022Present · 3 yrs 7 mos · India

  • Premium quality snack brand that provides a variety of tasty, healthy and innovative snacks at an affordable price.
  • Investors : $4M (SWC Global, Wipro Consumer among others)

Ethereal machines

Investor

Dec 2021Present · 4 yrs 3 mos · India

  • Advanced manufacturing startup building multi-axis CNC machines and precision engineering services for aerospace, defence, medical and electronics markets.
  • Investors : $20M (Peak XV Partners, Steadview Capital, Blume Ventures, Enam Investments among others)

Convin

Investor

Dec 2021Present · 4 yrs 3 mos · India

  • AI Agent Platform for Customer Conversations - Automate phone calls, empower reps in real-time, and unlock insights from every interaction to increase revenue, reduce costs, and improve customer experience.

Renée cosmetics

Investor

Oct 2021Present · 4 yrs 5 mos · India

  • Indian makeup brand that's redefining beauty with its range of high quality, cruelty-free and FDA-approved innovative products.
  • Investors : $50M+ (Edelweiss, Evolvence)

Ans commerce

Investor (Acquired by Flipkart)

Oct 2021Apr 2022 · 6 mos · Gurugram, Haryana, India

  • ANS Commerce is a full stack e-commerce solutions to help brands sell online.
  • ANS Commerce got acquired by Flipkart.

Videoverse

Investor (Acquired by Minute Media)

Mar 2021Sep 2025 · 4 yrs 6 mos · United States

  • AI-powered video content creation and distribution platform.
  • Investors : $100M+ (Bluestone Equity Partners, Alpha Wave Global, Baring Private Equity Partners)

Prescinto, an ibm company

Investor (acquired by IBM)

Mar 2021Oct 2024 · 3 yrs 7 mos · Greater Bengaluru Area

  • Prescinto is the brain of a solar plant delivering Actionable Intelligence to Increase Generation.
  • Prescinto got acquired by IBM.

100unicorns

Founding Member & Partner

Dec 2020May 2025 · 4 yrs 5 mos · India, Abu Dhabi, New York · On-site

  • Investing in early stage tech startups & consumer brands.
  • 100Unicorns manages two funds $100M Fund I, and $200M Fund II. Focused & simple thesis of investing $500K to $1M at idea / product / pre-revenue stage startups.
  • Tech : VideoVerse, Zypp Electric, Flam, Wiom, EnsuredIt,, Klub, Kosh, LegalPay, NeoDocs, ANS Commerce, TrulyMadly, Convin, Vested, HomeVille, OTO Capital, OneStack, Flickstree & more.
  • Consumer Brands : Renee Cosmetics, IGP.com, MyFitness, AloFrut, Tru Nativ, Rage Coffee, Kindly, Tagz Foods, Native Milk, Monrow & more.
  • As Operating Partner, I am managing D Day ($2M-$10M funding program) & ProStar ($25M-$50M funding program), if you are building something exciting - write to me at rajesh@100unicorns.in

Peppermint robotics

Investor

Jun 2020Present · 5 yrs 9 mos · India

  • Automation & robotics company, specialising in labour-intensive tasks like commercial cleaning and material handling.
  • Investors : $6M (Enrission India Capital, Indian Angel Network among others)

Carepal

Investor

Mar 2020Present · 6 yrs · Mumbai, Maharashtra

  • India's leading healthcare financing platform in India
  • Investors : $20M+ (Apollo Hospitals, HealthQuad, Beyond Next Ventures & Sony Innovation Fund among others)

Liquiloans

Investor (Exited in Series B)

Sep 2019Jan 2022 · 2 yrs 4 mos · Mumbai Area, India

  • Liquiloans is a RBI Licensed P2P lending platform.
  • Investors : $15M+ (CRED, GSV, Z47 Matrix Partners among others)

Venture catalysts | india's first integrated incubator

2 roles

Founding Member & Vice President

Jan 2019Nov 2020 · 1 yr 10 mos

  • Building investment ecosystem across India & MENA focusing on the best of Asia & Middle East based startups.

Founding Member & Associate Vice President

Oct 2015Jan 2019 · 3 yrs 3 mos

  • Asia's largest incubator & early stage investor, key portfolio includes BharatPe, Confirmtkt (sold to ixigo), Beardo (sold to Marico Ltd), Fynd (sold to Reliance Industries Ltd), Suprdaily (sold to Swiggy), Innov8 (sold to OYO Rooms), Vahanalytics (sold to Rapido), Siftrlabs (sold to Apus), Superbottoms, Orbo AI, HomeCapital, Liquiloans, BluSmart & 150+ startups.

Oto capital

Investor

Dec 2018Present · 7 yrs 3 mos · Mumbai

  • Digital commerce and lending platform that provides affordable plans to purchase motor bicycles.
  • Investors : $30M+ (Matrix Partners, Prime Venture Partners among others)

Bharatpe

Investor (Exited in Series B)

Jul 2018Aug 2021 · 3 yrs 1 mo · Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

  • BharatPe for Business is a comprehensive payment app allowing you to accept UPI and card payments from any app.
  • Investors : Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global, Dragoneer Investment Group, Steadfast Capital, Coatue Management, Ribbit Capital, Insight Partners, Steadview Capital, Beenext, among others.

Homeville group

Investor

Apr 2018Present · 7 yrs 11 mos · Mumbai Area, India

  • Financial services and technology company focused on the housing finance space in India
  • Investors : $25M+ (NABVENTURES, Riverwalk Holdings, DMI, Anand Piramal Family Office among others)

Igp

Investor

Dec 2017Present · 8 yrs 3 mos · Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

  • India's largest online gifting store offering curated gifts, cakes/flowers & personalized products for all occasions & festivals.
  • Investors : $30M+ (Motilal Oswal PE, Convivialité Ventures, Pernod Ricard’s VC, DSG Consumer Partners among others)

Innov8 coworking

Investor (Acquired by OYO)

Aug 2017Mar 2019 · 1 yr 7 mos · India

  • Innov8 Coworking is a Y- Combinator backed coworking space company in India.
  • EXIT : Innov8 got acquired by OYO Rooms.

Fynd (shopsense retail technologies ltd.)

Investor (Acquired by Reliance Ltd)

Mar 2017Aug 2019 · 2 yrs 5 mos · Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

  • Fynd is a multi-platform tech company and India's largest omnichannel ecosystem.
  • Investors : Google, Kae Capital among others.
  • Fynd got acquired by Reliance Industries Ltd.

Supr daily by swiggy

Investor (Acquired by Swiggy)

Dec 2016Mar 2018 · 1 yr 3 mos · Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

  • Supr Daily is a daily delivery service pioneering the grocery revolution in India.
  • Investors : Soma Capital, Great Oaks, YCombinator among others.
  • EXIT : SuperDaily got acquired by Swiggy.

Beardo (zed lifestyle pvt. ltd.)

Investor (Acquired by Marico Ltd)

Sep 2016Jun 2020 · 3 yrs 9 mos · India

  • Beardo is men’s personal care and grooming brand.
  • Beardo got acquired by Marico Ltd.

Vahanalytics (urbtranz technologies pvt ltd)

Investor (Acquired by Rapido)

Jun 2016May 2019 · 2 yrs 11 mos · India

  • Vahanalytics is a deep tech providing actionable insights about driving habits and road conditions.
  • Vahanalytics got acquired by Rapido.

Pixis

Investor (Exited in Series B)

Feb 2016Jan 2023 · 6 yrs 11 mos · California, United States

  • Pixis, an AI-powered platform for brands to monitor and orchestrate their marketing campaigns.
  • Investors : $300M+ (Premji Invest, General Atlantic, Softbank, Touring Capital, Celesta Capital, Chiratae Ventures among others)

Confirmtkt

Investor (Acquired by Ixigo)

Jan 2016Jan 2021 · 5 yrs · Bengaluru Area, India

  • ConfirmTKT.com is India`s No.1* IRCTC train PNR predictor & ticket booking platform.
  • Confirmtkt got acquired by Ixigo.

Weekend ventures

Founder & Communtiy Lead

Dec 2011Dec 2017 · 6 yrs · India

  • Weekend Ventures organizes hackathons and meetups for developers & tech startups across India. It's a community of over 200+ seasoned angels investors, 50+ VCs, 1500+ startups & 10,000+ founders! Aggregated valuation of WV backed startups is over $900 million.

Airpix - aerial data collection simplified

Cofounder & COO

Nov 2011Jun 2013 · 1 yr 7 mos · India

  • Airpix is a leading drone solutions provider in India. The services provided by AIRPIX include - aerial UAV industrial inspections, aerial survey for GIS, agriculture and mining, drone photography for the real estate, aerial photography & video shooting for media & production houses. Its systems and expertise in both multi-rotor and fixed wing UAVs help customer fasten the data collection process, provide with a safer alternative and also get a different perspective.

Segito

Cofounder & Lead Developer

Sep 2010Oct 2011 · 1 yr 1 mo · Mumbai, Maharashtra, India · On-site

  • Segito was the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey. I built hardware tools for differently-abled people, our first product was 'Braille Tutor'. We received $150K in grants from Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India and NIT Trichy Incubator. We built & launched the product successfully.
  • Yet, we failed in commercialisation with pricing mismatch, finally ceased operations in Oct 2011.

Biosense technologies

Design Engineer (Acquired by Tulip, a PerkinElmer company)

May 2010Aug 2010 · 3 mos · Mumbai Area, India

  • Acquired by Tulip Diagnostics, a PerkinElmer company.
  • Biosense is a medical engineering and design firm developing revolutionary diagnostics. It launched world's first needle free anaemia screening tool. It's funded by Insitor Partners (Luxembourg), Artha Impact (Switzerland), Menterra Venture (India) & GSF Funds.

Education

The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) — Economics

Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI)

Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech.) — Electronics Engineering

DG Ruparel College of Arts, Science and Commerce

High School — Electronics

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