InnoVen Capital India Fund, a Category II, SEBI registered AIF recently announced the first close of its new fund at approximately INR 740 crores (US$ 100 million equivalent). The fund has a target corpus of INR 1000 crores, with a green shoe option to raise an additional INR 1000 crores. The first close was done with anchor investor, Innoven Capital Pte Ltd, a joint venture between Seviora (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek) and United Overseas Bank.
While the fund is stage and sector agnostic, the primary focus will be on sectors such as Consumer Internet, B2B commerce, enterprise software, fintech, healthtech and logistics. With first close now achieved, the fund will start deploying and already has a healthy pipeline of opportunities.
Ashish Sharma, Managing Partner, InnoVen said, “India is now home to 50+ unicorns and the third-largest venture eco-system globally. Over the years, we have been fortunate to partner with some of the best founders and startups, including 17 that have achieved a unicorn status. Our portfolio companies have raised over US$ 20 billion of external capital and now valued at over US$ 70 billion. We are thankful to our anchor investors for demonstrating their confidence in the team and look forward to bring in other investors as well.”
Tarana Lalwani, Partner, InnoVen said, “At InnoVen, we continue to champion the rise of entrepreneurship and be an active participant in the growth of the venture eco-system. The new fund will help us to engage with even more startups and to continue to build out a truly, unique platform which collaborates with the best founders and Investors.”
Sameer Mansukhani, Partner, InnoVen said, “With record fund raising and a vibrant IPO market, we expect a multi-fold increase in formation of new start-ups, which will lead to higher demand for venture debt in the future. Venture debt is now an integral part of financing rounds and founders have a good appreciation of the product. We have built a robust pipeline and expect to start disbursing from the fund soon.”