BlackSoil Capital Pvt Ltd said on Wednesday it has invested $80 million in 20 transactions in 2021, registering a 2.5 times growth in terms of value and 1.8 times growth in terms of volume of investments over 2020.
The homegrown venture debt firm added that exits grew by 1.6 times in terms of volume and 1.3 times in terms of value in 2021 compared to CY2020, and that it clocked 24 exits. The pandemic provided tailwinds to venture debt, which helped the company achieve this growth, BlackSoil said.
The venture debt firm lent to approximately 20% of its existing portfolio companies during the year, BlackSoil said.
“In CY2021 (calendar year 2021) the focus was on digital first new age growth sectors like Financial Services including Fintech, B2B Commerce, Healthcare and D2C (direct-to-consumer) and B2C (business-to-consumer) sectors which together accounted for over 50% of BlackSoil’s investment in terms of value” says Ankur Bansal, Co-Founder & Director of BlackSoil.
During the year, BlackSoil said it raised over $ 15 million from 100 HNIs (high networth individuals) and UHNIs (ultra-high networth individuals) and family offices. According to BlackSoil, the deployment strategy for these funds will be consistent with 2021, and the venture debt firm would continue to invest in B2B (business-to-business), technology, enterprise SaaS (software-as-a-service), fintech, healtthech, agritech, edtech, clean energy and D2C companies.
BlackSoil, which manages an alternative credit platform, has deployed over $220 million across more than 115 deals. The company has made investments in unicorns including Infra.Market, Zetwerk, Udaan, and Oyo. The company has also invested in Furlenco, which recently rebranded itself as House of Kieraya, online cosmetics marketplace Purplle, among others.
This year, the venture debt fund has already invested in two companies. BlackSoil invested LivFin India Pvt. Ltd, a financial technology firm focused on small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The homegrown venture debt fund also participated in a $250 million fundraise through convertible notes and debt by Udaan, owned and operated by Hiveloop Technology Pvt Ltd.
