ETtechHomegrown early-stage venture capital fund India Quotient has launched its fourth fund with plans to raise a total corpus of around $80 million from global and domestic investors.
With the new fund, the firm plans to back 35-40 idea-stage startups in areas like software-as-a-service (SaaS), social media, direct-to-consumer (D2C), edtech and sectors, it said in a statement.
"We are expanding our global investor base and will work with about 20 family offices in India. These business houses bring us credibility, access to markets and their world of wisdom and we give them access to investments that were hitherto available only to overseas money," said Madhukar Sinha, Partner, India Quotient.
Over the past eight years, India Quotient has backed around 70 startups across sectors like fintech, edtech, healthtech, SaaS, social network, and consumer technology among others. The firm said that about 80% of its portfolio startups have raised follow-on funding from global investors. Among its key startup bets include ShareChat, Sugar, LendingKart, Pagarbook, and Vyapar.
"We will back founders when nobody understands them, and we will back them again and again. But it’s mandatory that they aim very high, have the capability to take on large incumbents and want to build companies that go on to IPO," said Anand Lunia, founding partner, India Quotient.
This launch comes at a time when several prominent venture capital investors have raised new funds and become laser-focused on writing first cheques for startups, making the market for high-quality deals competitive.
Elevation Capital, previously known as SAIF Partners, closed a $400 million fund in October last year, while Lightspeed raised $275 million in August to deploy in India and Southeast Asia, and Sequoia closed a $1.35 billion India venture and growth fund in July. Last month, consumer brands-focussed investor Fireside Ventures had also raised $118 million towards the final close of its second fund.
With the new fund, the firm plans to back 35-40 idea-stage startups in areas like software-as-a-service (SaaS), social media, direct-to-consumer (D2C), edtech and sectors, it said in a statement.
"We are expanding our global investor base and will work with about 20 family offices in India. These business houses bring us credibility, access to markets and their world of wisdom and we give them access to investments that were hitherto available only to overseas money," said Madhukar Sinha, Partner, India Quotient.
Over the past eight years, India Quotient has backed around 70 startups across sectors like fintech, edtech, healthtech, SaaS, social network, and consumer technology among others. The firm said that about 80% of its portfolio startups have raised follow-on funding from global investors. Among its key startup bets include ShareChat, Sugar, LendingKart, Pagarbook, and Vyapar.
"We will back founders when nobody understands them, and we will back them again and again. But it’s mandatory that they aim very high, have the capability to take on large incumbents and want to build companies that go on to IPO," said Anand Lunia, founding partner, India Quotient.
This launch comes at a time when several prominent venture capital investors have raised new funds and become laser-focused on writing first cheques for startups, making the market for high-quality deals competitive.
Elevation Capital, previously known as SAIF Partners, closed a $400 million fund in October last year, while Lightspeed raised $275 million in August to deploy in India and Southeast Asia, and Sequoia closed a $1.35 billion India venture and growth fund in July. Last month, consumer brands-focussed investor Fireside Ventures had also raised $118 million towards the final close of its second fund.
