Artha Venture Fund (AVF) announced on Thursday that its inaugural fund has attained the final closure of 220 crore and plans to invest in 12-15 businesses in 2021-22.
The fund had over 50 limited partners (LPs). More than half of the investments came from family offices, while the rest came from over 20 publicly traded firms, either directly or through promoter firms. The rest was invested by non-resident Indians, ultra-rich people, super angels, and the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), according to Artha Venture Fund.
The fund, which aims to raise 200 crore, invests in business-to-business (B2B), direct-to-consumer (D2C), and D2C enablers, among other things. However, AVF noted that substantial investor interest and the performance of the seed fund pushed it to exceed its objective and execute the green-shoe option.
AVF is a Category I alternative investment fund (AIF) that invests in entrepreneurs in the seed, pre-Series A, and Series A stages of development. The firm has set aside more than 65 percent of its capital for follow-on rounds and plans to make 10-12 seed investments every year.
“I am thrilled with the trust that our investors have demonstrated in our investment strategy,” said Anirudh A. Damani, managing partner of Artha Venture Fund. In addition to reaching their target raise two months ahead of schedule, over half of their first cohort of LPs doubled down on their previous commitments. “Many referred us to people in their network. Their reinvestment in and promotion of our fund across their network demonstrates that our fund strategy and structure resonate with them on a deeper level”, he remarked.
The fund’s entire corpus, which began gathering cash in late 2018, will be invested over the following 24-30 months.
