India is amazing at sectors such AI, deeptech and is going to be one of the leading countries to build out data centers and none of the global-tarrif warfare is going to affect it, said Brian Mac Mahon, Founder and Managing Partner of Expert Dojo, a Southern California-based early-stage venture capital and growth accelerator firm.
Mac Mahon said that the global tariff games between the US and the other countries have no bearing on the short-medium-long term relationship between the US and India.
“It’s all a game. If we were sitting in China right now, and if you asked me, Are you worried? I’d be like, yeah, this is a disaster. But does that affect us, our conversation? No, not at all. This is going to be incredible for you (India),” said Mac Mahon.
Mac Mahon said this during the firm’s launch of the initial USD 15 million fund for India, part of the USD 100 million third global fund. According to the firm, the fund will be deployed toward startups in promising areas such as fintech, B2B, SaaS, and AI. The partners said that founders can expect cheques ranging from USD 50,000 to USD 1 million, along with the firm’s global mentorship and network.
Ashutosh Kumar Jha, General Partner at Expert Dojo, said that India’s entrepreneurial talent pool is unmatched, but challenges remain, especially in cross-border capital access, international mentorship, and go-to-market expansion.
“We’re building an India-US innovation corridor that opens doors for Indian startups to scale globally.”
Kumar also said that when it comes to consumer tech, markets like the US are a bit saturated when compared with the likes of India.
“India has become a market for consumer tech. India is a big population market, with 1.4 billion people. There’s a huge opportunity for the consumer market here,” said Kumar Jha.
Expert Dojo’s current Indian portfolio includes startups such as Bhive, Cloudworx, Consuma, Mugafi, The Rollnumber, Fudr, and Doqfy, among others. Additionally, the firm has invested in more than startups in the US startup ecosystem.
Over the next 2 to 3 years, Expert Dojo plans to invest an additional USD 30 million into the ecosystem, with its base set up in Bengaluru serving as the firm’s hub for deal flow, founder support, and ecosystem collaboration.
“We’re going to start with USD 15 million, but then the follow-on will be USD 30 million. We are also thinking of maybe doubling down on our fund in three years,” said Kumar.
From a fundraising point of view, such as raising capital from limited partners (LPs), Mac Mahon said that even though the fund comes from the US, Indian investors have the opportunity to participate.
“NRIs can also invest directly in the Indian fund as well. If you’re not comfortable investing in our Indian fund, you can invest in our U.S. fund. We’ll move the money around. The purpose is to invest very gently in India, having the advantage of being a local investor here because local investors have more advantage as compared to the foreign investors,” added Mac Mahon.