We are currently on our third fund, which has a corpus of ₹1,000 crore. So far, we’ve raised ₹600 crore, after the first close of ₹250 crore, and are actively investing.

We are deploying from Fund III. Significant investments have been made into 11 companies, especially in the deep-tech and digital services sectors.

We are also investing in the existing portfolio from Fund II.

Our focus is on early-stage investments, positioning ourselves as the first institutional backer for startups. We invest heavily in intellectual property-led deep-tech ventures, as well as businesses leveraging India’s digitisation and ‘India for the world’ SaaS (software-as-a-service) opportunities. 

Two-third of our investment is in startups based in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, reflecting our commitment to finding innovative solutions beyond metro hubs.

We are optimistic about deep-tech, where India has significant competitive advantages, especially given the government’s push for manufacturing through various profit-linked and design-linked incentive schemes.

We also continue to invest in differentiated SaaS and digitisation-driven businesses.

We look at a seven- to eight-year horizon for our investments, during which we expect the companies to mature and potentially achieve exits.

For Fund III, our initial cheque size is in the range of ₹10-12 crore. We reserve about 80 per cent of the fund for follow-on investments, allowing us to back winners in the portfolio significantly.

In our first fund, we have achieved a 3x return for our investors and are on track for a 6x return. Our exit strategy includes M&A and secondary sales to larger funds and investors. Notable exits include Pharmrack, which digitised the pharmaceutical supply chain.

While we seek strong financial returns, exits are often driven by the defensibility of a company’s intellectual property and its strategic value to acquirers, and that is what we aim to build in our portfolio.