Venture capital (VC) firm Jungle Ventures has launched First Cheque@Jungle programme to invest at least $2 million as seed funding to back early stage start-ups in seed stage.

The programme will have two core concepts — focus on only a few teams at any given time and a sizeable first cheque with no minimum ownership criteria

First Cheque@Jungle introduces a two-pronged investment structure. The VC firm will invest a minimum of $2 million as 50 per cent in equity and 50 per cent as a no-cap convertible note. According to Jungle Ventures, this would ensure ‘right sized early stage capital to go after big ideas but with limited early-stage dilution.’

The programme will be joined by Livspace founder and COO Ramakant Sharma, entrepreneur and angel investor Sayali Karanjkar, and Neu Ventures founder Cameron Priest as venture builders. The trio will guide early-stage teams selected for the programme throughout their 0 to 1 journey.

First Cheque@Jungle will remain sector-agnostic and will back start-ups in India and Southeast Asia, the VC firm said in a press statement.

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The VC firm, which has backed the likes of Moglix, Livspace and more, is also committed to lead or co-lead subsequent Series A funding rounds with investments ranging from $5 million to $10 million per company.

“We don’t need anyone but the founders and us to validate if we are building something to last here and we will demonstrate it with our continued capital commitments,” Jungle Ventures said.

The VC firm recently merged with Singapore-based health-tech investor HealthXCapital (HXC) to invest in the segment across India and Southeast Asia.

The launch of the early stage investment programme also comes months after Jungle Ventures announced the closure of its $600 million Fund IV, consisting of $450 million in the main fund and $150 million in additional managed commitments.

The VC firm had said at the time that it would make around 15-18 investments across start-ups based in India and Southeast Asia from the new fund.

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