Silicon Valley-based collective South Park Commons is expanding its presence in India with a new fund, targeting $40 million in investments. According to a recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the fund will focus on supporting early-stage startups in the South Asian market.

Founded in 2016 by Facebook's first female engineer, Ruchi Sanghvi, South Park Commons has established itself as a unique platform that supports technologists with strong ideas, even if they're not yet ready to fundraise. The collective has already raised three funds to back early-stage startups in the U.S. and has now set its sights on the Indian market.

South Park Commons entered the Indian market in June, partnering with Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal. The India chapter, based in Bengaluru, marks the collective's first global move. In addition to Sanghvi, her husband and business partner, Aditya Agarwal, who previously worked at Dropbox as its VP of engineering, has also joined the platform.

The collective takes a distinct approach to supporting startups, focusing on the "-1 to 0" stage, where entrepreneurs have strong ideas but may not be ready to fundraise yet. South Park Commons offers two programs: Community Membership for entrepreneurs who are not looking to raise capital, and Founder Fellowship, which provides funding of $1 million, including a $400,000 investment upon joining the program and an additional $600,000 commitment for the next venture round.

South Park Commons has built a strong network, with around 175 active members and over 800 alumni, according to its website. The collective's members are predominantly founders, with the remaining 20% comprising domain experts and researchers. In September, the group hired Angel One executive director and CBO Prateek Mehta as its founding partner for the India outpost.

The Indian startup ecosystem has faced challenges, with only 117 unicorns (startups with at least a $1 billion valuation) among over 149,000 startups, according to government data. Despite these challenges, global VC funds such as Accel, General Catalyst, and Lightspeed remain bullish on the Indian ecosystem, while others like SoftBank and Tiger Global have found it challenging. Y Combinator, a prominent startup accelerator, has also seen a decline in Indian startups selected for its batches, with only four startups chosen in 2024, down from 8 in 2023 and 47 in 2022.

The new fund marks a significant development in South Park Commons' expansion into the Indian market, and its focus on early-stage startups could provide a much-needed boost to the region's startup ecosystem. While Sanghvi and Agarwal did not immediately respond to a request for comment, the move is likely to be closely watched by the startup community and investors alike.

As South Park Commons continues to grow its presence in India, its unique approach to supporting startups could have a lasting impact on the region's entrepreneurial landscape. With its focus on the "-1 to 0" stage, the collective is well-positioned to identify and nurture promising startups, potentially leading to the emergence of new unicorns in the Indian market.