Lumis Partners, a Gurugram-based private equity firm has started an acceleration program for supply chain startups, cited yourstory. The program is named as Supply Chain Labs which looks to harness the growth potential of supply chain startups in India.
The firm has backed several startups like Altizon Systems, Wheebox, and SHEROES among others.
The programm will last long till two months for which the firm has tied up with AWS as its technology partner, Yes Bank as corporate innovation partner, and MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) as an academic partner.
As part of the programme, selected startups will get an opportunity to spend some time at MIT Zaragoza, Spain as well.
“Lumis has traditionally invested in the supply chain in the US, as it felt the market is still a bit non-conducive to Indian supply chain startups till 2017-2018. But with changing macro-economic conditions, ease of doing business, regulatory changes like GST and e-way bill, things have taken a big positive turn. The space is now more ripe for technology-based optimisation, which is why Lumis is now ready to invest in this space in India as well,” Rohit Bhayana, managing partner and co-founder of Lumis Partner said.
Lumis Partners focuses on operating models that require deep domain expertise, development of intellectual property, and strong technology leverage.
It was launched by Rohit Bhayana and Sandeep Sinha.
Interestingly, the company will be offering the selected startups mentorship from industry experts, a two-week long academic programme with MIT, which will cover fundamentals and global best practices in the supply chain, and exposure to corporates who will be interested as potential clients and connect with other investors.
“All of this in a light touch model because we fundamentally believe that startups should be augmented, not totally consumed by this program,” said Rohit.
Lumis Partners has already started inviting applications for the program, and is looking to on-board a cohort of 7-10 startups.
“The jury round will begin by mid-August, the acceleration phase will begin in September, and the program will conclude with a demo day by October end,” added Rohit.
Several players which stand against Lumis Partners in the market includes E Wave Asia, Kotak Private Equity Fund, Change Capital Partners, etc.