Early-stage venture capital firm Capria Ventures has concluded the fundraising for its India Opportunity Fund at ₹153 crore ($19 million). This comes on the heels of a full-cash exit from its portfolio company Awign.

Capria Ventures formerly known as Unitus Ventures had announced the close of its first close of the fund at ₹80 crore. The firm invests across a range of sectors, including fintech, jobtech, edtech, agtech, Climate and SaaS.

The VC has backed startups– workforce management platform BetterPlace, online math class start-up Cuemath, edtech platform Masai School and education loan provider Eduvanz through its opportunity fund. It also announced a full-cash exit from job-tech start-up Awign following its acquisition by Japanese HR firm Mynavi Corp.

20x growth

Capria and other investors in Awign, India’s largest tech-led, on-demand work fulfilment platform, have sold their stake in the company in a buyout by Japanese conglomerate Mynavi Corporation. The company has seen 20x growth in revenue since Capria first led its Seed round investment in 2018. With its asset-light and easy-to-configure tech platform, Awign has also improved the lives of 1.5 million gig workers.

“Awign has the winning combination of a large market, healthy gross margins and a robust tech platform. Mynavi’s acquisition of Awign not only opens untapped markets and opportunities for the company but is also a great exit for our India Fund II, where we will return more than 50 per cent of the invested capital through this one exit. The multiple on invested capital for Awign for our India Fund II is >7x. Additionally, our now closed India Opportunity Fund, which also invested in Awign in February 2023, will return more than 20 per cent of the invested capital to its LPs,” said Surya Mantha, Managing Partner at Capria,.

Dave Richards, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Capria said, “Awign’s growth trajectory is an example of the disruptive innovation in job creation and income generation for Bharat, which is core to our investment philosophy. We’re incredibly proud to have played a role in Awign’s journey from its early days. This rewarding exit reinforces our confidence in our ability to unlock significant value for our investors. We are optimistic that this acquisition will prove to be a milestone for the Indian start-up ecosystem and establish acquisitions as a viable exit strategy for early-stage investors.”

Capria Ventures invests in early and early-growth stage startups in the Global South (India, Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia)

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