The record
Every company, including the four that wound down. A track record with the failures removed isn’t a track record.
- $7M
- Syndicated
- 20+
- Companies
- 4
- Exits
- 150+
- Investor network
- 31%
- Realised IRR
Companies
| Company | Entered | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| CarestackPractice management software for dental clinics in the US | 2013 | ExitedBuyback, Apr 202110.9× |
| AisleHigh-intent dating app for relationships | 2017 | AcquiredInfo Edge, Mar 20222.18× |
| InsentConversational marketing platform | 2018 | AcquiredZoomInfo, Jun 20216.12× |
| ProfoundisCRM intelligence for lead generation | 2014 | AcquiredFullContact, Aug 20162.20× |
| AdmitKardAI-powered international university admissions | 2017 | Active |
| Another 1Web3 luxury and NFT fashion platform | 2021 | Active |
| BuildnextHome design and construction technology for India | 2017 | Active |
| CertifyMeDigital credentialing and document verification | 2021 | Active |
| CookdCooking content with e-commerce integration | 2021 | Active |
| CrosspayCross-border remittances platform | 2019 | Active |
| ExplaraEvent ticketing and management | 2017 | Active |
| HyreoCandidate experience platform for hiring | 2021 | Active |
| JUST EggPlant-based egg | 2021* | Active |
| PupilFirstOpen-source LMS and teaching platform | 2021 | Active |
| SeekhoVocational skills OTT learning platform | 2021 | Active |
| SellerAppE-commerce seller analytics for Amazon | 2021 | Active |
| ZokoWhatsApp commerce for Shopify merchants | 2020 | Active |
| OvohealthFertility healthcare facilitator; formerly CareOnGo | 2017* | Wound down |
| PikkolD2C logistics and fulfilment technology | 2019* | Wound down |
| ReelmonkOTT platform for Malayalam film — launched well ahead of its time | 2014 | Wound downWritten off 2015 |
| Woolly FarmsUrban vertical farming | 2021* | Wound down |
* Entry year approximate — confirm before launch.
Funds
- WinterbergLP
- Small-cap PE focused on resource productivity and SMEs in Europe
- PointOne CapitalLP
- Early-stage VC focused on the next wave of companies from India
- Kwaish FundLP
- Rolling VC fund from Anand Chandrasekaran on AngelList
- Callapina CapitalPrincipal
- Proprietary investments focused on special opportunities
Real estate
Cash-flowing residential property in Philadelphia, since January 2018. Mostly bought at foreclosure auction, rehabbed, let, and then refinanced to recycle the capital into the next one.
| Property | Strategy | Rent $/sq ft | Cap rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| DuplexProperty 1 | Foreclosure auction, full rehab, rent, refinance | 1.25 | 10.9% |
| Row houseProperty 2 | Foreclosure auction, full rehab, rent, refinance | 0.96 | 12.1% |
| Row houseProperty 3 | Foreclosure auction, partial rehab, rent | 0.80 | 16.9% |
| Row houseProperty 4 | Market purchase, full rehab, rent, refinance | 1.26 | 8.5% |
| Twin houseProperty 5 | Foreclosure auction, full rehab, rent, refinance | 1.12 | 8.4% |
| DuplexProperty 6 | Market purchase, partial rehab, rent, refinance | 1.35 | 9.7% |
The yield came from the basis, not the rent. Property 3 has the lowest rent per square foot of the six and the highest cap rate; Property 6 has the highest rent and one of the lowest cap rates. What separates them is what was paid going in.
The four bought at foreclosure auction average roughly 12%; the two bought on the open market average roughly 9%. Partial rehabs outperformed full ones — the risk being that under-improving costs you on tenancy and maintenance later, which a cap rate on day one doesn’t show.
Konglo Realty, Philadelphia. The portfolio peaked at 10 units; several have since been sold and about 5 are held today. The six above are the snapshot from the portfolio overview deck.
Two people without whose guidance, strategic advice and immense support this wouldn't have been possible: my brother-in-law Binu Paul, and our close friend Marshel Varghese.
Founders
Able Joseph — Founder, Aisle Konglo has been a delight to work with, not once but twice. The 2nd time around, we closed the round within a week and were over-subscribed. Vinod was willing to listen and understand the pain points we were facing and provided us with inputs on dealing with them. We were also offered founder-friendly terms based on our needs, this elevated mutual trust to a whole another level. Konglo Ventures comes with a wealth of information, a diverse network and years experience in fundraising. This was helpful in seeking the right kind of partners to align ourselves with, which was a blessing at a time of uncertainty. Vinod is super responsive and often takes decisions quickly. This is important for under-resourced, early-stage companies, for whom all matters are time-sensitive. Konglo is also well connected with investors from outside India. This can work in one's favour since investors residing in developed countries sometimes share a different world view and are open to non-traditional business models. Overall it was a pleasure working with Konglo and that continues to be the case today.
Arjun Pillai — Founder, Profoundis & Insent It was a great experience engaging with Konglo Ventures. Konglo gets involved with the startups and entrepreneurs as needed. This is helpful especially in the initial stages when you are trying to focus and keep moving forward. Having a strong investment thesis and some empathetic investors in the syndicate is really helpful for the entrepreneurs. I have found Konglo to be a right mix of 'data + gut driven' which is super important considering the early stage at which Konglo gets involved. When I was trying to raise the round, I had one face to face meeting by the end of which Konglo had pretty much made the decision. Then, further calls were made only to reinforce the decision. Similar to this, I have seen Konglo almost always makes quick decisions whether it is Yes or No. I think this is one other aspect which every investor/fund should try to emulate. Overall, I think Konglo is a responsible group of investors who know what they are doing and hold the entrepreneurs accountable to what they have set out to achieve.
Gopikrishnan V — Founder, Buildnext When you're picking an early stage investor, it is most important that you pick one who can guide you in the right directions. At the early and riskiest stages of your startup lifecycle, there are so many potential options before you — a few which can potentially lead you to success and a lot that can set you up for failure, amidst a lot more which are more difficult to judge. This is one area where we were helped most by Konglo. Konglo Ventures is a group of young professionals from diverse backgrounds, and that makes their involvement very valuable for an early stage company. When Konglo invested with us in our seed round, we had a few experienced startup investors and mentors, a serial entrepreneur, an experienced finance professional, an experienced marketing professional, a senior IT entrepreneur, all investing with us in the round — all of whom had valuable inputs that really helped us with streamlining our thought process. Konglo has been actively involved in opening doors for us and encouraging us to grow, and we strongly recommend Konglo to startups looking to raise early stage funding.
Viren Bhushan — CFO, Fugro In 2016 I was looking for some investment exposure to the start-up activity in Kerala/South India and came into contact with Konglo. For me, Konglo has 3 great attributes that make it unique — (i) connections and local networks across the region that are able to provide multiple quality leads (startups) in a short time-frame (ii) quality and professionalism of the Konglo team and their access to experts in different domains who are quickly brought in for due diligence/to opine on a potential investment (iii) ease and flexibility of investing both in terms of how simple it was for me to invest without any bottlenecks but also in terms of speed of decision making from the Konglo team. Truly recommended!
Vineet Kumar — CEO, Native I began my journey of investing in Startups with Konglo back in 2016 and it has been an extremely interesting journey with 2 investments concluded and 2 more in the pipeline in just a space of 12 months. The key strengths that I found are a) Constant networking and sourcing of new startups looking for funding b) Due diligence and handling all legal requirements centrally c) Konglo key stakeholders also invest their own money making the risk assessment genuine and building trust since there is constant follow up on the investments made and how the companies are progressing. And lastly and most important is the ability to be flexible with investments for smaller investors depending on the interest in the idea vs. a one size fits all ticket size.
Robin Alex Panicker — Founder, Finotes If not for the Konglo network, I wouldn't have invested in most of the deals that I did till now. Reason being Konglo provides an efficient platform for individual investors as they source deals, conduct DD and handle legal requirements, all done with utmost professionalism. Also the collective wisdom that the network provides helps us to take more informed decisions on startup investments. I value the relationship very high and wish to be part of the Konglo network.
Thomas Mathew — CA, Leonardo S.p.A Konglo has been a valuable source for me to rely on while taking my investment decisions in startups. Teaming up with Konglo gives more clarity on startups through professional due diligence, pooling of knowledge and expertise in different domains. Look forward to work with Konglo on more deals in the future.
Konglo
Vineet Mohan and Robin Paul Joseph joined me in this in 2013, and I deeply cherish the time we spent laying the foundation for Konglo in the beginning. What started as a way for a group of friends scattered across the world to do something together became a network of 150+ investors writing first cheques into Indian startups.
Callapina
By 2022 the syndicate model had taken us as far as it could. Konglo could move fast on a single deal, but every round meant assembling the money again from scratch — which is fine when you are backing a friend’s company, and limiting when you want to follow on into the ones that are working.
Callapina began earlier than the fund did — by 2020 it was already a partnership with Anas, a vehicle for experiments in investing, fundraising and advisory. What changed in January 2023 was the structure. That month I launched Callapina Capital with my partner Anas Rahman Junaid as a $4M fund: committed capital rather than a fresh raise each time, and the ability to reserve for follow-ons. It bridges the same two ecosystems — India and the US — that Konglo had been working across for a decade.
We invested in more than ten companies in the first eighteen months. Anas and I had already been making decisions together for years inside Konglo, which is the part that mattered most: the hardest thing to manufacture in a fund is a partner whose judgment you have already stress-tested on real money.