Building a Startup Sourcing System at Alteria Capital

Tushar joined Alteria Capital as an analyst intern, assigned to support a corporate venture arm looking to deploy capital into startups where genuine commercial synergies existed. The corporate client operated across security technology, mobility, and infrastructure.

Tushar built the sourcing system from scratch. He started by mapping the landscape sector by sector, using LinkedIn, Crunchbase, and startup news platforms to identify Indian startups operating in adjacent spaces. He developed a filtering approach: first, did the startup's domain match the corporate client's business lines well enough that the client could become a prime customer? Second, did the deal size and equity structure fit? Third, how did the founder profile look, factoring in background and prior institutional backing?

The sourcing was methodical but time-consuming. Tushar would pick a sub-sector, map the companies in it, then go deep on each one to assess whether the synergy was real or superficial. Once he identified a match, he built a pitch for his senior: here is the startup, here is why the synergy is non-obvious, here is why the corporate client should care.

Reaching founders was the hardest part. Cold outreach had a low response rate, so he worked through second-level intermediaries and sector-specific news coverage to find warmer paths in. His senior then took the shortlisted companies to calls, with Tushar joining a small number of them.

One of the startups he sourced was later flagged by his partner as a live investment prospect.