About Us

Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Job Creation

Along with the goal of promoting access to finance to SMEs in Nepal, the NPEA also strives to advance innovation, entrepreneurship and job creation.

The NPEA, incorporated as a non-profit entity under the Company Act, will be governed by a Board of Directors and administered by a small team of professionals.

The association has the following broad objectives:

Strengthen and promote Nepal’s private and alternative investment ecosystem
Support policymaking that promotes private equity in Nepal
Level the playing field for fund managers – local & foreign
Nurture collaboration and rapport between all PEVC firms in Nepal
Act as a linkage between local PEVC firms & regional / global PEVC players
Help entities in the PEVC industry maintain a high standard of governance & professionalism
Train and help up-skill finance & management professionals
Conduct comprehensive research & analysis relevant to the industry

Accelerator Nepal is a not-for-profit company with the primary objective to support the development of an entrepreneurship friendly environment in Nepal.

Business Oxygen (BO2) is a SME venture fund in partnership with International Finance Corporation (IFC), and White Lotus Centre Pvt. Ltd. It was established to provide risk capital to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Nepal through structured equity and quasi-equity investments. It specializes in providing finance to SMEs that cannot access finance from BFIs due to a lack of collateral. BO2 looks for businesses that are ready to scale up their operations.

Dolma provides capital and expertise to growth companies in Nepal. The fund is designed to generate sustainable private sector employment and stimulate further Foreign Direct Investment into Nepal. Dolma invests as a strategic partner, sharing risk with entrepreneurs and promoters. As an impact fund, Dolma builds positive social and environmental impact into the core of investee company strategies.

One to Watch (OTW) is an investment management company based in Nepal since the last five years. OTW works with small and medium sized companies focusing on basic needs – food, infrastructure and health-care, companies that create impact as well as profits. Supporting and investing in the next generation of entrepreneurs who are leading commercially viable and impactful businesses that are actively solving problems and creating jobs in the local communities, OTW aims to close the “missing-middle” finance and business support gap for entrepreneurs.

Team Ventures invests in private and public companies/institutions to promote entrepreneurship and to foster institutional development by injecting equity capital & by providing strategic assistance in the managerial & governance level of the investee company to scale-up and expand their business operations. Utilizing a unique combination of analytic strategies and ground-based resources, Team Ventures’ portfolio consists of investments in multiple business sectors.

True North Associates (TNA) is an investment firm that aims to contribute to the development of the private sector in Nepal by investing in growth-stage companies with sector-disruptive business models. TNA has positioned itself as the only domestic permanent capital vehicle with PE/VC investment philosophy and the flexibility to uniquely structure each deal according to time horizon & exit options. Apart from contributing to building & shaping the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Nepal, TNA has developed a pipeline of investment targets which are now beginning to convert.

Kriti Venture Fund was established in 2017 by Machhapuchchhre Kriti Capital Limited to mobilize domestic fund in productive sectors of Nepalese economy. Incorporated as an alternative investment fund, it promotes institutional investment in energy/infra, manufacturing, health, education, tourism, and agricultural sectors. TEAM Ventures, another member of the Association, is a major institutional shareholder, along with Shikhar Insurance Co. Ltd. and other prominent individual investors.

Tele Venture started as an investment company in 2015 with a vision to enable technology start-ups in Nepal to reach their desired goals. With the new Specialized Investment Fund Regulation 2075 rolled out by SEBON, Tele Venture aims to become a PE Fund by actively expanding into other sectors. Owned by Pratik Jalan and
Rohit Gupta, Tele Venture has made a strategic investment in Sastodeal, a leading e-commerce platform in Nepal.

SAFAL Partners is Nepal’s first operations-focused consulting and investment firm. SAFAL also pioneered and launched Nepal’s first organized, iterative and trust-based Angel Investment platform – also known as SAFAL Angels – which has already pooled capital from individual private investors to provide capital to three small and growing companies that have already employed 30 people. At present, SAFAL has a pool of about 200 individual high net-worth Nepali angel investors who stand ready to provide capital to invest in companies that are looking to scale up their ventures through mentorship and equity partnership.

Global Equity Fund Private Limited (GEF) is an institutional private equity and venture capital fund promoted by Laxmi Bank; Prime Life Insurance; Everest Insurance and Laxmi Corp. It received a ‘Fund Management License’ from the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) under Specialized Investment Fund Regulation 2075 and among the first PE/VC Fund in Nepal to receive the approval. It is a sector agnostic impact fund which provides capital to small and medium sized enterprises which are at early stage, expansion, and growth stages. It is in a process to launch Laxmi Impact Growth Fund I with fund size of NPR 2 Billion, which aims to invest in 8 -10 mid-caps SMEs facing issues of: scaling up and expansion, lack of technical knowledge and assistance in helping to grow business, professionalization – environmental, social & governance (ESG), and shareholder transition or management succession.

A law firm based on Kathmandu, Pioneer Law Associates (PLA) specializes in the field of commercial law and as such, has been advising local and international clients for the past 3 decades. Founded in 1982, the firm has advised both onshore (with or without foreign investment) and offshore funds, in their establishment and operation of the private equity and investment funds especially dedicated to provide growth capital to small and medium enterprises, and sector focused funds for sectors such as hydropower. Pioneer Law has also been part of the legal reform project intended to identify the barriers to the private equity funds and simplifying entry, operation and exit of such funds.

The team has specializations in various sectors, forming separate litigation, intellectual property, commercial law, legal consultation, and drafting departments.