Early-Stage VC Fund Arkam Ventures Closes Its Maiden Fund At $106 Mn

Early-stage venture capital fund Arkam Ventures has completed the final closure of its maiden fund at $106 Mn (INR 790 Cr). The fund was oversubscribed at INR 790 Cr against its original target of INR 650 Cr. 

The fund was backed by institutional investors including British International Investment Plc, Nippon India Digital Innovation, Evolvence Group, Capria, and SIDBI, and other global funds of funds, HNIs, and Indian family offices.

Individual investors including Info Edge’s Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Flipkart’s Binny Bansal, Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar and Rajesh Mago also backed the fund.   

The fund will invest in Pre-Series A to Series B deals with an individual cheque size between INR 10 – INR 20 Cr. It is reported that the fund has backed 12 companies to date. 

Founded by Rahul Chandra and Bala Srinivasa, Arkam Ventures primarily focuses on verticals including financial services, healthcare, food and agriculture, education, logistics and SaaS. Its startup portfolio includes smallcase,  Krazybee, Jar, Smartstaff, Jai Kisan, Signzy, SpotDraft, Wint Wealth, Invact, Mudrex, BestDoc and Jumbotail.

Chandra previously cofounded Helion Ventures where he invested in startups including Equitas, Spandana, SMS Gupshup, Shubham Housing, MoEngage, UnitedLex, LetsBuy and Toppr. 

Srinivasa previously worked at Kalaari Capital and backed startups including Upstox, Jumbotail, Credit Vidya, and Mettl. Prior to this, he was a managing director at Amba Research. 

Recently, Arkam Ventures invested in edtech startup Invact Metaveristy’s $5 Mn seed funding round. Other investors including Antler India, Picus Capital, M Venture Partners, BECO Capital, and 2am VC, also participated in the funding round.  

In February 2022, Arkam Ventures invested in crypto investing platform Mudrex’s with $6.5 Mn Pre-Series A funding. Other investors including Tribe Capital, and Bolt by QED Investors participated in the round too.

Besides this, Arkam participated in investment startup Jar’s $32 Mn Series A funding round in February this year. The round saw participation from Tiger Global, with participation from Rocketship.vc, Third Prime, Stonks, Force Ventures and WEH.

In October 2021, workforce management startup Smartstaff (previously known as qikworks) raised $4.3 Mn in a seed funding round from Blume Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners, Arkam Ventures, and Gemba Capital.

Correction Note | 13th April, 2:30 PM 

Article headline has been updated to reflect the right size of the fund.