- ByStartupStory | February 8, 2024
GrowthCap Ventures has achieved the first close of its inaugural fund at INR 20 crore, approximately six months after its launch. The firm aims to invest the capital in startups operating in the fintech, deeptech, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) sectors.
Led by former chief business officer of BharatPe, Pratekk Agarwaal, the early stage VC fund intends to back 10-12 startups (from seed to Pre-Series A) with an average ticket size of INR 2-6 crore over the next 20 months. The fund, registered with SEBI as a single general partner category II alternative investment fund, aims to raise a total corpus of INR 50 crore.
The fund’s limited partners (LPs) include Beerud Sheth of Gupshup, Shankar Vailaya of ShareKhan, Naresh Naik of Irep Capital, ex-CDO Kotak Bank Deepak Sharma, and Ankur Jain of Incred, among others.
“For our inaugural fund, we have selectively garnered investments from accomplished operators who have successfully built large organizations. This exclusive funding opportunity is by invitation only,” said Agarwaal, the founder and general partner at GrowthCap Ventures.
He added that the firm is planning to launch another fund with an estimated corpus of INR 250 crore.
Agarwaal, an alumnus of IIM-Kozhikode, has previously worked with companies like Bajaj Finsev, Fullerton India, Indostar Capital, and BharatPe. As an angel investor, he has backed more than 35 startups, including Decentro, Vegapay, Klub, Karmalife, Fundly, Transbnk, and Coverself. He is also an advisor to many startups.
Despite the ongoing funding winter, several new India-focused funds have been launching their vehicles, and many investors are announcing the close of their funds.
For instance, in December last year, Indian Angel Network (IAN) announced the first close of its second venture capital fund at INR 355 crore ($42.5 million). The IAN Alpha Fund has a target corpus of INR 1,000 crore ($119 million). In the same month, early stage VC firm Sprout Venture Partners announced the first close of its second fund at $10 million.
In November, Pantomath Financial Services Group announced the final close of its pre-IPO fund, India Inflection Opportunity Fund (IIOF), at $60 million.
According to Inc42’s analysis, funds worth $5 billion+ were launched for investments in Indian startups last year. Of this, 46% of the funds were focused on early-stage startups.
