Rajasthan Venture Capital Fund (RVCF), a state run fund for Rajasthan and NCR ( National Capital Region) is raising its second fund with a target corpus of Rs 500 crore. The fund will have a mix of foreign and domestic subscribers and is targeting its close for the financial year 2011-2012. The fundraising is expected to be closed by mid 2011.
Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation (RIICO) and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) are the anchor contributors to Rajasthan Venture Capital Fund.
“Our second fund, which will be a Rs 500 crore fund, is currently in the formation stage and we are still structuring it. It would invest in technology and there will also be a component of sectors that reflect a higher growth rate,” Girish Gupta, CEO, RVCF, told VCCircle.
The fund is looking at European countries and has also received interests from the Middle East. The fund would focus on investing in the growth stage companies as Gupta says, “Now that the country is expected to grow 6-8% in the next 2 years, we see a lot of opportunities in the growth stage.”
Gupta admits that the current times are tough and raising funds is no easy task. However, he points out that RVCF’s advantages over other funds play a crucial role in convincing investors. “We have some advantages in terms of our location as we are located in Jaipur and invest in the NCR region. Most of the other funds are located in Bangalore and Mumbai,” says Gupta.
RVCf’s previous fund was a Rs 100 crore fund with a green shoe option of Rs 50 crore. It has already invested in 10 companies out of this fund and has exited four of its portfolio companies. According to Gupta, the fund will take another two years to exit out of its remaining 6 portfolio companies. Out of its portfolio of ten companies, four are based out of Rajasthan.
Currently the fund is investing in the sectors that are less impacted by the slowdown like non-formal education, healthcare, media and entertainment.
