Adda247, Varthana Backer Asha Ventures Marks First Close Of Maiden Fund At $50 Mn

Mumbai-based climate and impact-focused venture capital investor Asha Ventures, which counts Adda247, Vastu Housing Finance, Varthana and Truemeds among others as its portfolio companies, has marked the first close of its debut fund at $50 Mn (approximately INR416 Cr), which will have a total corpus of $100 Mn (approximately INR833 Cr).

The Asha Ventures Fund-I plans to make early-stage investments in startups across sectors such as financial services, healthcare, education, climate and agriculture.

Asha Ventures was founded by former Morgan Stanley India head and president Vikram Gandhi and former Genpact president and chief executive Pramod Bhasin in 2015. 

The VC firm’s latest investment vehicle has received commitments from limited partners including Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), Self-Reliant India (SRI) Fund and a clutch of family offices.

“The backing of reputed institutions like SIDBI, SRI and some of India’s largest family offices is a testimony to our track record in this space and gives us a platform to scale up our investments,” Gandhi said.

Asha Ventures aims to deploy the funds into 4-5 startups every year. With the first close, the fund has already committed its first investment to an early-stage startup, without disclosing the name, the company said in a statement.

“At Asha Ventures, we are uniquely positioned to bring operating and investment expertise to the table enabling our portfolio companies to realize their true potential,” Bhasin said.

Notably, Asha Ventures is the second firm to mark the first close of its fund in recent days. Last week, SenseAI launched its maiden VC fund to invest in Indian artificial intelligence startups with a target corpus of INR 200 Cr ($25 Mn). It said that it would invest in 18-20 AI-first startups from seed to Pre-Series A stages, with plans for follow-on investments in its portfolio companies.

Also in the same week, Indian Angel Network marked the first close of its second venture capital fund at INR 355 Cr ($42.5 Mn) with a target of INR 1,000 Cr ($119 Mn) to back early-stage startups across multiple sectors.  

According to Inc42’s India’s Startup Investor Landscape Report 2023, the country is home to more than 2.5K VCs as of 2023, which is expected to cross the 5K mark by 2030. 

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