Elev8 Venture Partners Closes Maiden Fund At INR 1,400 Cr

SUMMARY

The fund attracted a diverse base of sovereign funds, large family offices, unicorn founders, and a host of LPs from Korea, Hong Kong and India

Elev8 Venture Partners announced the first close of the fund at $67 Mn in August 2023

Elev8 said it has deployed one-third of the fund’s corpus in five startups – Astrotalk, IDfy, smallcase, Porter, and Snapmint

Growth stage VC firm Elev8 Venture Partners has marked the final close of its debut fund at INR 1,400 Cr (about $160 Mn).

In a statement, the firm said that the fund attracted a diverse base of sovereign funds, large family offices, unicorn founders, and a host of limited partners (LPs) from Korea, Hong Kong and India.

Founded in 2022 by former Kae Capital partner Navin Honagudi, Elev8 is backed by Venture Catalysts and South Korea’s largest financial conglomerate, KB Investment, as institutional cofounders of the fund.

The firm announced the first close of the fund at $67 Mn in August 2023. At the time, it said that the maiden fund would back 12-14 startups from sectors such as consumer tech, enterprise software, fintech, and healthtech by participating in their Series B and C funding rounds. Its ticket size would be in the range of $10 Mn to $15 Mn.

Elev8, in the statement today, said it has deployed one-third of the fund’s corpus in five startups – Astrotalk, IDfy, smallcase, Porter, and Snapmint, with cheque sizes of $8 Mn to $14 Mn.

Elev8 managing partner Honagudi said that the firm’s focus is now on deploying the remaining capital with discipline and supporting its portfolio companies on their journey towards public listing.

The development comes at a time when the country’s startup ecosystem continues to grow at a rapid pace. With a number of new-age tech companies going public and over 20 such companies in the queue to list on the exchanges, investors are actively launching and closing funds to back Indian startups.

Last week, a99 launched its third fund with a corpus of $100 Mn to back startups in the manufacturing and infrastructure sectors. On the same day, VC firm Elevation Capital launched a $400 Mn late stage fund to back startups looking to go public.

Meanwhile, Bengaluru-based Amicus Capital Partners marked the final close of its second fund at $214 Mn (around INR 1,800 Cr), in June. Multiples Alternate Asset Management, InCred Alternatives and A91 Partners are among the other investors to close their funds this year.