Cornerstone To Close $200 Mn Second Fund By End Of 2025

Cornerstone Ventures To Close $200 Mn Second Fund By End Of 2025

SUMMARY

After marking the first close of its second fund at $40 Mn, Cornerstone Ventures has raised another $20 Mn to $30 Mn and is likely raise another $15 Mn by April

The Mumbai-based VC firm made its first investment in an unnamed late stage startup from the second fund

The B2B-startups focussed firm will invest in industries such as logistics and distribution, healthcare, financial services, retail and ecommerce enablers, among others

Mumbai-based VC firm Cornerstone Ventures is planning to mark the final close of its $200 Mn (around INR 1,700 Cr) second fund by December this year.

The VC firm launched the second fund last year and marked its first close at $40 Mn (around INR 342 Cr) in January this year.

Abhishek Prasad, managing partner of Cornerstone Ventures, told Inc42 that the firm has raised $20 Mn to $30 Mn from domestic institutions and family offices after announcing the first close of the fund.

“Hopefully we will close another $10 Mn to $15 Mn in April,” he said.

The VC firm has already made its first investment from the second fund. “We have made our first investment in a late stage startup as part of a pre-IPO round,” Prasad added. However, he declined to disclose the name of the startup.

The development was first reported by Business Standard.

Founded in 2019 by Prasad and Rajiv Vaishnaw, Cornerstone is a B2B tech startups focussed VC firm, especially SaaS, which backs early and growth stage enterprises. It deployed its $50 Mn first fund across 21 startups and counts the likes Credilio, Mystify, Blubirch, among others, in its portfolio.

Recently, the firm exited AI-powered debt collection startup CreditNirvana with an internal rate of return (IRR) of 55%. The startup was acquired by SaaS unicorn Perfios.

Cornerstone’s Investment Thesis For Second Fund

For its second fund, the VC firm plans to focus on industries such as logistics and distribution, healthcare, financial services, retail and ecommerce enablers and technology marketplaces, among others. A part of the fund will also be deployed to back startups operating in the Web3 and quantum computing space.

While the VC firm plans to allocate 70% of the corpus for early stage startups, the remaining 30% will be deployed to back late stage startups.

On the limited partners for the second fund, Prasad said, “This time we are looking to flip the equation. We aim to attract 60% of investments from institutions and the rest from HNIs and family offices.”

Besides, the VC firm is aiming to attract more participation from domestic investors. It is eyeing raising $130 Mn from domestic investors for the second fund.

This comes at a time when the rapid adoption of GenAI has opened up new opportunities for enterprise tech startups. As a result, investors are bullish on the sector. Last year, enterprise tech space emerged as one of the most funded sectors. Indian enterprise tech startups raised $1.8 Bn funding in 2024, a 38% increase from $1.3 Bn in 2023.