Endiya Fund II has received a commitment of ₹75 crore ($10 million approximately) from International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group.

IFC has also committed an additional $10 million for direct co-investments alongside Endiya Fund II. The partnership with IFC will provide Endiya’s portfolio companies financial and strategic support resulting in increased access to growth opportunities and sustainable scalability.

“Early-stage VC investment volumes in India are markedly lower than VC volumes in countries like the US and China. Our investment in VC funds like Endiya helps mobilise capital from other LPs and brings that capital to path-breaking early-stage businesses,” said Jun Zhang, IFC Country Head, India. “Endiya Partners has demonstrated differentiation in access to high-quality Pre-Series A opportunities in enterprise technology and healthtech sectors,” he added.

Endiya Partners is a seed and early-stage venture capital firm investing in IP-led Indian product start-ups that are globally relevant. Endiya’s current portfolio includes Darwinbox, Steradian Semiconductors, Kissht, SigTuple, and Myelin Foundry.

Endiya Fund II has a corpus target of ₹500 crore ($65 million); it completed the first close at ₹280 crore ($40 million) in May 2019. Limited Partners in the fund include financial institutions, corporates, and family offices across India, Europe, and the US. Endiya Fund II will seek to invest in 16-20 start-ups, with an initial cheque size of $500,000 to $1 million in Seed/Pre-series A rounds and a planned investment of up to $5 million per company.

Founded in 2016 by Sateesh Andra, cardiologist-turned-investor Ramesh Byrapaneni, and Abhishek Srivastava, Endiya added Abhiram Katta to its top deck in 2018 and most recently expanded its investment team by hiring Dipesh Chawla and Lakshmi Kancharla.

“We are excited to have won IFC’s support and backing. We value IFC’s vast global presence across geographies that could offer future expansion markets for our portfolio companies. We are also delighted to have a co-investment envelope from IFC that could be used to support our investees as they scale,” said Sateesh Andra, Partner at Endiya Partners.

Endiya’s investment strategy addresses a funding gap in the venture capital spectrum in India between Angel and Series A investments, enabling entrepreneurs to find a value accretive partner to further the development of their vision to build a sustainable business model. Endiya is able to effectively add value through concept and market validation, product launch, team building, business model refinement, customer and partner acquisition and follow-on funding.

“While industry averages state that 30 per cent of seed deals go on to raise follow-on capital, 75 per cent of Endiya’s portfolio has raised follow-on rounds. This showcases the team’s ability to source, screen, select and nurture quality early-stage start-ups,” Sateesh added.

Endiya’s Fund I was a 2016 vintage fund with a corpus of ₹175 crore ($25 million); it invested in 12 portfolio companies.

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