The Hindu Business Line : Helion Venture closes $210-million fund

Helion Venture Partners, an India-focused venture capital fund has closed its second fund of $210 million (about Rs 840 crore) that will focus on investing in sectors such as consumer services, retail services, education and financial services, in addition to technology led businesses.

Helion’s first fund raised about $140 million (about Rs 560 crore), focusing only on technology led ventures.

Commenting on the move to diversify its basket of investments, Mr Kanwaljit Singh, Managing Director, Helion Venture Partners, said, “when we started two years ago, we focused only on technology businesses because we had past experience in that sector. Now we a rise in entrepreneurial activity in domestic consumption-led sectors.”

Growth in mobile and Internet penetration and the estimated increase in household income and middle class population make it favourable to enter these new sectors, he added.

Sectors such as retail and financial services would require significantly more investment than technology led businesses. Does that mean Helion will invest more than usual in these businesses?

“No. We would continue to look for the sub $10-million investments in these areas. For instance, in education we may look at companies engaged in the business of test preparation, assessment and training,” he said.

In retail it may be inverting in ideas that will lead to building a large enterprise. In financial services, retail products distribution (such as insurance, brokerage), credit card processing and Internet/ mobile banking may be potential areas.

Helion received close to 1,000 proposals in the last two years, however, it may not see a similar number for the new sectors it is entering.

“In technology businesses the entry barrier is low, whereas in these businesses it is not. We may continue to see 1,000 proposals for our technology investments, but not the same for say retail.”

Helion is a multi-stage investor and looks at a 2-5 year investment period before exiting. It has so far invested in 11 companies including JiGrahak, makemytrip.com, UnitedLex, Gridstone, Anantara, Zmanda, Kirusa, Komli, Hurix, Amba Research and Mindworks Global Media Service.

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