VCCircle

Boston-based Venus Capital Management has launched its first private equity offering to invest in late stage India-based companies. The firm is also readying a beta product and a real estate offering for the region to be launched next year, says a report. Venus is targeting between $25 million to $50 million. "It will invest in companies that are going to have liquidity events within two years," the firm's founder Vik Mehrotra has been quoted as saying.
Mehrotra mentioned that the firm is prepping a beta product that will look to outperform the Nifty Index for investors with hedge fund exposure in the region. The firm's India-focused $400 million Venus Arbitrage Fund, which invests in equity-related arbitrage opportunities, is up 14.6 per vent YTD through November. Its 19-month old $110 million Venus Special Situations fund has also fared well, returning 30.05 per cent during the same period.
Venus Capital, founded in 1994, manages some $700 million in total assets. First ever private equity investment in an Indian art house was made by Venus Capital. It picked up 5 per cent stake in Osian's Connoiseurs of Art for Rs 11.2 crore ($2.5 million). The firms has been betting big on hedge funds till now.