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Early-stage venture capital firm, Chiratae Ventures, has announced the first close of its fundraising, which will be dedicated solely to its growth-stage portfolio.
The Chiratae Ventures Growth Fund-I (CGF-I) has been oversubscribed at ₹759 crore. The company plans to now close its green shoe commitments by December. CGF-I will invest in the growth rounds of technology start-ups from its portfolio and outside. It will be a sector-agnostic fund to support the growth and expansion of tech companies. The fund is targeting to invest across 15-20 companies over a three-year period.
Why growth funds
Speaking to businessline about the reasoning behind raising a growth fund, Venkatesh Peddi, MD & Partner at Chiratae Ventures, said, “In the case of Series C and beyond rounds, when the fund raised by the individual companies themselves could go up to $100 million, we may or may not have the wherewithal to invest from existing funding structures. This is where growth funds come into the picture.”
Ranjith Menon, MD, said: “If you look at our own portfolio companies over the last 15 months or so, between primary and secondary rounds, they have raised close to $2 million in Series C and beyond rounds. With our existing early-stage funds, our ability to participate in these rounds is limited. This is why we are coming up with this new series of growth fund-1 which is focused on both existing portfolios as well as new companies.”
The fund is backed by domestic institutional investors such as Kris Gopalakrishnan, Choksi Family Office (promoters of Asian Paints), SBI and IIFL Wealth & Asset Management and other family offices, along with existing global investors and key LPs (limited partners).
Chiratae Ventures has raised five early-stage funds and manages $1.1 billion in AUM (assets under management). It has been an early backer of technology-led companies such as Bizongo, Curefit, EarlySalary, Firstcry, GoMechanic, Lenskart, Myntra, PolicyBazaar, Pyxis, Vayana, and Uniphore, among others.
Fastest fundraise
Sudhir Sethi, Founder and Chairman of Chiratae Ventures, said, “We are pleased to announce our fund close at ₹759 crore for our maiden CGF-1. This is one of our fastest fundraisings. We thank our investors for recognising our performance, strategy, returns and governance. The fund will be focused on fueling the growth of 15-20 technology start-ups at growth stage.”
Kris Gopalakrishnan, Member of the Global Advisory Board, Chiratae Ventures, and Co-Founder of Infosys, said, “I am glad that Chiratae, as the largest home-grown venture growth firm, has achieved its fastest fund closure of CGF-1, on the back of a decade-plus-long history of stellar returns, high governance, firm institutionalisation, backing unicorns with capital from Indian as well as global investors repeatedly.”
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