Early-stage venture capital firm Endiya Partners has raised $15 million (Rs 100 crore) to mark first close of its new fund and aims to wrap up the fundraising process by getting an equal amount more in the next three months, a senior executive told VCCircle.
Sateesh Andra, former managing partner of Ventureast, who floated Endiya Partners along with Ramesh Byrapaneni and Abhishek Srivastava, said: “We will focus on technology, healthcare and consumer services for investments out of this fund.â€
The Economic Times that first reported the development said the fund was registered under capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) AIF norms in August 2015.
Endiya has already made two investments in food technology company InnerChef and analytics startup for mobile apps Hansel.
The fund will largely invest in companies focusing on the Indian market but will also include those looking at the global market. The fund that expects returns from the third year of investment, will have an average ticket size of Rs 8-10 crore per deal.
“Based on our current conversations, we expect to invest in up to 10 companies in 2016,†Andra said.
He said the firm the marked first close—a milestone in fundraising process for PE, VC firms post which they can start investing—by raising commitments from domestic institutional investors like SIDBI and family offices whereas the final close will be achieved through money coming in from overseas investors.
“I do not expect more than 10 investors in the fund,†Andra said.
Two other early-stage VC firms that attained first close in the last one month are Unicorn and Blume Ventures. Unicorn is raising its maiden seed fund while Blume Ventures, which has emerged as one the more prolific seed investors over the past four years, is looking to invest larger sums through a bigger fund.
