The Hindu Business Line : Infinity to exit 3 more start-ups

VENTURE capital fund Infinity is in discussions to sell off its holdings in three start-up companies it had funded and hopes to complete the divestment process in three to six months.

"The investment cycle has finished and we are currently in the phase of exit. We have already exited a travel solutions company Cognosys, and we will be exiting three more companies for which we are currently in active discussions," Mr Saurabh Srivastava, Chairman of Infinity Technology Investments Pvt Ltd, said.

"We are talking to a mix of players for the divestment. In the case of one company, we are talking to strategic investors, and for the other two we are in discussions with larger companies to acquire them," he said.

Mr Srivastava hoped that the process of exit in the three companies would be completed in the next three to six months, but declined to divulge the names of the start-ups. "Exiting these three companies would leave Infinity with four to five more companies," he said.

"We had invested during the boom-time and we have done fine. The professionals managing our fund were entrepreneurs and so the level of involvement in the projects was high. In many cases, we modified the original business plans and refocused the companies in tune with the changing market demand," Mr Srivastava said.

The investors of Infinity planned to start a new fund only after the divestment phase of the existing fund was complete.

"It takes time to raise a second fund, and if we do not focus on the current portfolio, we will not get good return on investment for our investors. It will take us about 6-12 months to complete the divestment phase and then we will go for a new fund," he said.

Last year, the venture fund exited travel solutions company Cognosys, which merged with Kale Consultants. Mr Srivastava said that in all its companies, Infinity's holding period had been about four years.

"It is an industry trend. Most of the VCs who had invested in 2000 are now looking at an exit after holding on to their investments for four to five years," he said.