Anicut Capital Receives Funding Commitment Of $9 Mn From SRI For Its Equity Fund

Alternative financing firm Anicut Capital on Tuesday (January 3) said it has received commitment of over $9 Mn (INR 75 Cr) from Self Reliant India (SRI) Fund for its equity fund ‘Grand Anicut Fund 3’. 

Anicut Capital launched the INR 500 Cr Grand Anicut Fund 3, also known as Anicut Opportunities Fund, in June 2022. The sector-agnostic fund has a green shoe option of INR 250 Cr and would invest in 10-15 growth-stage companies working in tech consumer and B2B sectors in the span of two years.

The fund has already made five investments and is actively conferring about two other deals, which will be closed by the next quarter, Anicut Capital said.

“We firmly believe that our investment portfolio companies will be leaders of tomorrow and grow multifold with persistent support and commitment. The commitment from SRI Fund furthers our agenda of strengthening small and medium enterprises across India,” said Dhruv Kapoor, partner of Anicut Capital.

Anicut Capital’s portfolio includes startups like Wow! Momo, Bira, Sugar Cosmetics, Earth Rhythm, Wingreens, Blue Tokai, ShareChat, Mcaffeine, Milkymist, XYXX, Curatio Healthcare, Agnikul, and Grip Invest.

The investment firm has also onboarded Arun Thathachari as an executive director. Thathachari holds over 15 years of experience in investment banking, management consulting and corporate development. He previously working with Sulekha.com, DC Advisory, Arma Partners and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, among others.

On the other hand, SRI Fund is a SEBI-registered category II alternative investment fund supported by NSIC venture capital, a subsidiary of The National Small Industries Corporation Limited (NSIC), and managed by SBICAP Ventures Ltd. 

SRI Fund is an INR 10,000 Cr fund of funds launched by the Indian government in October 2021. It aims to make equity investments in MSMEs and catalyse capital flow in the MSME space. 

The latest development comes nearly a month after Anicut Capital said that its INR 1,500 Cr third debt fund ‘Grand Anicut Fund 4’ received SEBI’s approval. The fund has a greenshoe option of INR 500 Cr and will be launched in the fourth quarter of FY23.

Anicut Capital presently manages two debt funds – GAF-1 and GAF-2, Anicut Angel Fund and Grand Anicut Fund 3. It claims to have assets under management (AUM) of INR 1,600 Cr. 

Despite the ongoing funding winter, an array of funds have been launched in the last few months. Java Capital’s $9 Mn AIF fund, SphitiCap’s $500 Mn VC fund, WFC’s $24 Mn angel fund ‘Invstt Trust’ and $30 Mn cross-border angel fund ‘We Founder Circle Global Angels Fund’ are among the funds launched recently.

According to an Inc42 report, a total of 126 funds, including VC, debt, CVC and private equity funds, were launched in 2022. These funds together raised over $18.3 Bn to back startups in the country.