Helion Venture Partners has invested in about 50 companies since its inception in 2006 in various sectors including consumer tech, enterprise tech (business and infra), and technology-enabled services, among others. After raising three funds it is now planning to float fourth fund this year which is expected to be $200 – 250 Mn and will follow the trail of previous funds by focusing on IT sector.
The news was confirmed by Alok Goyal and Srikanth Sundararajan, partner and venture partner, respectively but did not comment on the fund’s size.
According to Srikanth, the India-focused early- to mid-stage venture fund has been investing primarily in IT plays and IT-enabled consumer and business services start-ups in sectors such as outsourcing, internet, mobile, technology products, retail services, healthcare, education and financial services. The first two funds are fully deployed and the third one is almost so.
The earlier funds were solely IT focused, though it invested in other sectors as well such as green tech, education, financial services etc.
India is the third largest digital economy in the world after US and China as it is witness by number of internet users which were 20 Mn in 2006 and are 300 Mn today.
He also acknowledged that India is a huge breeding ground for startups and many people now want to join/create startups. There is a huge demand for early as well as late-stage capital, considering the fact that many companies want to stay private for longer periods.
Helion had launched its first fund, of $140 Mn, in 2006. This was followed by a $210 Mn fund in 2008 and a third one of $255 Mn in 2012.
