Chiratae Ventures Marks First Close Of INR 759 Cr Growth Fund

SUMMARY

The growth stage-focussed fund will be sector-agnostic and support the growth and expansion plans of 15-20 companies

Chiratae’s Growth Fund I was oversubscribed and will mark the final close of green shoe commitments by December 2022

In 2021, Chiratae closed its fourth early stage-focussed fund at $337 Mn

Bengaluru-based venture capital (VC) firm Chiratae Ventures has marked the first close of its ‘Growth Fund I’ at INR 759 Cr. The fund which will be solely dedicated to growth stage startups will mark its final close of green shoe commitments by December 2022.

Chiratae Growth Fund I will invest in the growth rounds (Series C and beyond) of technology startups from its portfolio and beyond. It will be a sector-agnostic fund to support the growth and expansion of 15-20 companies signing cheques worth $5 Mn – $20 Mn.

This is the first growth fund raised by Chiratae Ventures and will count Infosys’ Kris Gopalakrishnan, Choksi Family Office (promoters of Asian Paints), SBI and IIFL Wealth and other asset management and family offices besides global investors as its limited partners (LPs).

Founded in 2006, Chiratae Ventures is more popularly known for backing early stage startups and currently manages assets worth $1.1 Bn. It has backed 125+ startups across SaaS, consumer tech, healthtech, deeptech, agritech, fintech and other domains.

Some of its portfolio companies include FirstCry, Flipkart, GlobalBees, Lenskart, Manthan, Myntra, Policybazaar, Goodmeetings, Cropin, EarlySalary and more. Three of its portfolio companies have gone public, eight have entered the unicorn club and the fund has marked nearly 45 exits from its portfolio companies.

Chiratae has previously closed its fourth early stage-focussed fund at $337 Mn and was oversubscribed by 25%. It also has a seed stage-focussed initiative ‘Chiratae Sonic’, under which it provides investments of under $500K with a turnaround of 48 hours.

Despite the funding winter chills, unfavourable macroeconomic conditions and rise of far-from-profitable startups, several PE and VC firms are readying with funds to back startups at the right time.

That is, even with weak startup funding activity (so far, startups have raised only $22.9 Bn in 2022), investors have launched new funds. Among these are Fireside Ventures’ $225 Mn fund, Jashvik Capital’s $350 Mn maiden fund, IvyCap’s INR 2,000 Cr fund, Yatra Angel’s fintech-focussed INR 90 Cr fund, Merak Ventures’ $100 Mn maiden fund, Sequoia’s $2.85 Bn fund, Artha Venture’s INR 450 Cr fund, Symbolic Capital’s $50 Mn crypto-focussed fund, and more.