PixelSky Capital, a secondaries-focused investment firm set up by Yumlane founder Hitesh Ahuja, has marked the first close of its maiden investment fund at Rs 150 crore ($17.2 million), a company spokesperson told VCCircle.
The firm, which is targeting a total corpus of Rs 400 crore, has already made two investments: beauty platform Purplle and logistics firm Porter.
VCCircle had exclusively reported the launch of PixelSky Capital’s fund in August last year.
The fund aims to acquire secondary stakes in at least three more late-stage startups over the next few quarters. It is evaluating investments in companies that could go public in the near future.
The fund invests in opportunities across direct secondaries, including employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), angel investments, venture capital, and private equity.
Investor interest in secondary transactions has been rising over the past 12-18 months, as early backers, angels, and ESOP holders seek liquidity.
Several large secondary transactions have taken place in recent months, including a $40 million investment by Canada’s Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) in HR software unicorn Darwinbox, a Rs 480 crore round at direct-to-consumer startup The Sleep Company, and Porter’s $200 million secondary round led by Kedaara Capital and Wellington Management.
Ahuja founded Mumbai-based Yumlane in 2016 with backing from Orios Venture Partners and Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal. It developed a proprietary technology stack for pizza and operated both a cloud kitchen brand, Yumlane Pizza, and a B2B business.
Prior to Yumlane, Ahuja co-founded Lebanese quick-service restaurant brand Maroosh. The company secured $3 million in Series A funding from Ronnie Screwvala’s family office, Unilazer Ventures, in a round that also marked Ahuja’s exit.
He earlier served as vice president at US-based private equity firm New Silk Route, where he was involved in investments in Destimoney, Sri Chaitanya, Rolex Rings, and VRL Logistics.
