Java Capital Launches INR 75 Cr Fund To Back 15-20 Early-Stage Startups

Venture capital firm Java Capital on Monday announced the launch of its first alternative investment fund (AIF) which will have a corpus of INR 75 Cr ($9 Mn). The fund will also have a green shoe option of INR 25 Cr. 

Java Capital said that the fund has achieved its first closure at INR 30 Cr and expects a final closure in the next six months.  

The fund will have an average ticket size of INR 2 Cr and will invest in 15-20 pre-seed, seed and pre-series A startups operating in deeptech, SaaS, enterprisetech, fintech, and climate and sustainability sectors. It will also earmark 50% of the fund’s capital for making follow-on investments into top-performing portfolio startups. 

The VC firm said that it has already started making investments in startups from the fund, and has backed 4 startups till now. 

Founded in 2020 by venture capitalists Bhargavi V, Vinod Shankar and Karteek Pulapaka, Java has backed 23 startups so far. Its portfolio includes Agnikul, KukuFM, BharatX, Better Opinions, Yellow Metal, The Eplane Company, Kindlife and Legistify, among others. 

“We are possibly one of the only funds with strong diversity with three full-time partners and are led by deep conviction in the companies we invest in. We are not afraid to lead rounds ourselves at this stage. All three of us have collectively spent over 25 plus years investing in startups…,” Vinod Shankar, cofounder and partner at Java Capital, said. 

The VC firm said that it has led the funding round for 40% of its portfolio startups and over 50% of its portfolio companies have raised follow-on investments. 

“We are strong believers in the growth story for India, we work with our ecosystem and partners in the true spirit of long term games with long term people (which) leads to significant outcomes for the society at large.  We are in the venture space for the next couple of decades and would like to grow Java Capital,” Bhargavi V, cofounder and partner at Java Capital, said. 

Four of Java’s portfolio startups have made it to Y-Combinator’s accelerator program after getting investments from it, the firm said, adding that its portfolio companies are together valued at $385 Mn. 

The launch of the new fund comes at a time when the funding in the Indian startup ecosystem has seen a sharp fall this year amid the ongoing funding winter. Homegrown startups cumulatively raised $24 Bn between January and November 2022 as against $37 Bn funding secured in the corresponding period in the previous year (2021). 

Despite this, a number of VC and PE firms have launched new funds this year to invest in early-stage and growth-stage startups.

Recently, Indian cricketer Shikhar Dhawan launched a $75 Mn VC fund to back sportstech startups, while early-stage angel investor network FAAD on Monday said that it has received SEBI’s approval for its INR 300 Cr AIF which will invest in early-stage startups.

Besides, AUM Ventures’ maiden VC fund,  Artha Group’s INR 450 Cr fund, and SphitiCap’s $500 fund are among the other funds launched in recent times.