Elevation Capital Launches $670 Mn Fund; To Invest Up To $5 Mn In Early-Stage Startups

Gurugram-based venture capital firm Elevation Capital has launched a $670 Mn Fund VIII. The fund will primarily focus on early-stage and growth-stage startups. 

The fund will primarily invest in early stage startups working in segments such as consumer tech, consumer brands, fintech, SaaS and Web3, writing cheques between $2 Mn – $5 Mn for the startups.

Founded in 2002 by Ravi Adusumalli, Elevation Capital (formerly SAIF Partners) primarily participates in seed to series A funding rounds of companies. It has invested about $2 Bn in more than 150 companies including FirstCry, Makemytrip, Meesho, NoBroker, Paytm, Sharechat, Spinny, Swiggy, Unacademy, Urban Company and Xpressbees. Interestingly, 13 of its portfolio  companies have joined the unicorn club, achieving a valuation of more than $1 Bn. 

Despite being an early-stage investor, in March 2022, Elevation Capital participated in Country Delight’s INR 498 Cr (about $65 Mn) Series D funding round. Besides, Elevation Capital participated in social commerce startup CityMall’s $75 Mn Series C funding round as well.  

Apart from these investments, in the Q1 CY22, Elevation Capital has also made bets in various startups including Nanonets’ $10 Mn Series A round, Sprinto’s $10 Mn Series A round, Minitifi’s $40 Mn Series C funding round, Polygon’s $450 Mn venture round, Pillow’s $3 Mn seed round, and SuperOps.ai’s $14 Mn round and Curelink’s $3.5 Mn seed funding round, among others. 

In 2020, SAIF Partners launched its seventh fund $400 Mn to back early-stage startups and rebranded itself as Elevation Capital. Funds IV to VI have consistently been worth $350 Mn.  

The State Of Early Stage Venture Capital In India

In recent times, many sector-centric funds have been launched by venture capitalists and investors. Lately, Aavishkaar Capital launched Aavishkaar India Fund VI of $130 Mn to focus on sustainable agritech, financial inclusion and climate tech-focussed essential services segment.

Last month, Speciale Invest announced the final closure of its fund–the Speciale Invest Continuity Fund I, at INR 286 Cr to focus on enterprise software products and industrial hardware products. That same month, Inflection Point Ventures also launched its AIF CAT II Physis Capital, a $50 Mn venture capital fund that will invest in 15-20 startups.

In March 2022, AI and Robotics Technology Park (ARTPARK) in association with IISC Bengaluru launched a $100 venture fund. In April 2022, Omnivore launched its new fund with a corpus of $130 Mn for tech-enabled startups working in agriculture, food, climate and rural economy.

In the past year, VC firms have become a suitable form of funding for small businesses and startups seeking colossal capital investment in their early stages of growth. According to an Inc42 report, 706 early-stage investments were made in CY21. Q1 CY22 alone recorded $3.74 Bn in early stage investments across 356 deals.

While the funding stats are dominated by late-stage startups, the venture capitalists that are backing early-stage startups include:

• Some prominent yearly accelerator programmes including Y Combinator, Airtel Startup Accelerator Program, Reliance’s GenNext, Google For Startups, Microsoft Accelerator, The Facebook Accelerator Program, Angel Pad, and Huddle, among other
• Micro VC firms with fund size at sub-$30 Mn, such as Artha Venture, Atrium Angels, Gemba Capital, Capital A, Sequoia India’s Surge, Investment Syndicate Seeders, Better Capital among others
• Early-stage VC firms with fund size of more than $100 Mn include Leo Capital, Stride Ventures, Prime Ventures, Kalaari Capital, Blume Ventures, Matric Partners, 3One4 Capital, agritech-focussed Omnivore, Chiratae Ventures, among others.