South Park Commons Expands to India in Collaboration with Binny Bansal

South Park Commons (SPC), a technical community and early-stage venture fund, has announced the opening of its first international location in Bengaluru, India. 

In collaboration with Binny Bansal, co-founder of Flipkart, SPC-India will provide a supportive environment for founders, technologists, and researchers to navigate the -1 to 0 stage of their careers—the stage when their primary task is figuring out what to work on next. 

Founded in 2015 by Ruchi Sanghvi, the first female engineer at Facebook and former VP of Operations at Dropbox, SPC claims to have become the top destination for technical founders seeking support during the earliest stages of their startup journey. Ruchi was joined by Aditya Agarwal, former CTO of Dropbox, with the founding of the SPC Fund in 2018. 

"The Indian start-up ecosystem has matured to the point that it can sustain the incredible talent density that makes SPC work. Founders don't have to move to the US to build world-class, category-creating companies," said Aditya Agarwal. 

Read: Zepto’s Financing Round Might Include DST Global, Lightspeed, Valuing Start-Up at $3 Billion: Report 

The SPC model requires a critical mass of world-class technical talent, seasoned operators from successful local companies, and a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem. Bengaluru has all the ingredients to become the next leading technology hub. SPC will add its -1 to 0 approach to the next stage of India’s growth. 

“SPC supports founders when they are most vulnerable, when they take the plunge to start a company. We are excited to bring together the most talented technical founders in Bengaluru and help them find their life’s work,” said Ruchi Sanghvi. 

SPC-India will build on the community's reputation as a top destination for early-stage AI researchers and founders. The earliest members of SPC included future founders from companies like Anthropic and Imbue, as well as early engineers from OpenAI. SPC aims to replicate this emphasis in India. 

"I am equally excited to partner with Ruchi and Aditya to help the next generation of Indian founders navigate the -1 to 0 stage of their startup journey," said Binny Bansal.