360 ONE Asset Launches INR 500 Cr VC Fund To Back Early Stage Startups

360 ONE Asset, a wholly-owned subsidiary of 360 ONE WAM, has launched an INR 500 Cr (around $60 Mn) early stage venture capital fund.

The sector-agnostic fund will target seed and Series A startups across sectors, including consumer technology, fintech infrastructure, generative AI, spacetech, defence and precision manufacturing.

A source close to 360 ONE Asset told Inc42 that the fund aims to back around 25 startups with an average ticket size of INR 10-25 Cr.

The investment vehicle has already backed four startups. The source disclosed that two of these startups include a hybrid-casual gaming startup called FunStop and a hot sauce brand called Naagin. The other two include a SaaS company and a spacetech venture.

360 ONE Asset said in a statement that it will take significant ownership in its portfolio companies through this fund, securing board seats and playing an active role in strategic direction, governance and value creation.

An advisory board consisting of BlueStone founder Gaurav Kushwaha, Publicis Sapient CEO Nigel Vaz, Better Capital’s founder Vaibhav Domkundwar, and C5i’s Ashwin Mittal supports the early stage strategy.

360 ONE Asset’s CIO and head – private equity and venture capital, Sameer Nath, said, “As India approaches its next wave of startup-led economic transformation, 360 ONE Asset’s early stage strategy aims to be at the forefront – identifying, backing, and shaping the companies that will define the next generation of unicorns.”

Abhishek Nag, senior fund manager and strategy head – early-stage VC at 360 ONE Asset, said, “With our early stage strategy, we aim to bridge the white space between India’s robust micro-VC ecosystem and the large global funds.”

“We also offer active co-investment opportunities for strategic partners, all while staying focused on long-term macro trends like domestic consumption, financial infrastructure, healthcare, AI-led services, and deep tech innovation,” he added.

This move is part of 360 ONE Asset’s broader INR 25,000 Cr ($3 Bn) private equity platform, which serves as a core pillar of its “idea to IPO” capital stack. 

Notably, this is not its first foray into startup investing. Last year, the asset management firm launched a secondaries fund, ‘Special Opportunities Fund-12’, with a target corpus of INR 4,000 Cr to invest in late-stage startups.

360 ONE Asset has overall alternates and public markets AUM of almost $10 Bn, and its venture capital and private equity platform has an AUM of more than $3 Bn. Its product suite includes AIFs, PMS and MFs spanning asset classes of public and private equity, fixed income and real assets.

360 ONE’s Push For Market Dominance

In a strong push for market dominance, 360 ONE has been driving aggressive inorganic expansion across the wealth and investment space.

Most recently, 360 One WAM acquired the Indian onshore wealth business of Swiss giant UBS for INR 307 Cr. This was its second acquisition this year after buying brokerage firm B&K Securities and its mutual fund distribution arm for INR 1,884 Cr. 

It also acquired Times Internet’s investment wealth platform ET Money for around INR 366 Cr last year to reinforce 360 One WAM’s (formerly known as IIFL Wealth Management) position as a premier wealth manager in the country. 

360 One Asset has also picked up stakes in companies like OneSource Speciality Pharma, Bharti AXA Life Insurance. 

Based out of Mumbai and backed by a private equity firm like Bain Capital, 360 One claims to have more than 1,200 employees, a presence in five global financial hubs and 27 Indian locations, advises over 7,500 HNI/ultra-HNI families, and manages assets exceeding INR 5.8 Tn. It counts 30 unicorn startups, including Anarock, Swiggy, and FirstCry, among its 101 portfolio companies.