Kae Capital Closes Its Winners Fund II At $50 Mn To Invest In Portfolio Startups

Early stage venture capital firm Kae Capital has closed its Winners Fund II (KWF II) by raising $50 Mn (INR 410 Cr) to co-invest in its portfolio startups in their growth stage funding rounds.

Investors including Velo Partners, VM Thapar Family Office, KKR cofounder and co-executive chairman Henry Kravis, 360 ONE, HealthKart founder Sameer Maheshwari, Max Healthcare founder Abhay Soi, DSP Group founder Hemendra Kothari, and Tata 1mg’s Prashant Tandon and Tanmay Saksena infused capital in the fund, the firm said in a statement.

“We have launched this fund in order to continue backing our best founders, alongside other successful founders in the ecosystem, who are not yet a part of the Kae family,” said Sasha Mirchandani, partner at Kae Capital, announcing the closure of KWF II.

Like all its previous funds, KWF II was also oversubscribed, the VC firm said.

Kae Capital has been investing in Indian startups for over a decade now. It is a sector-agnostic fund that invests in pre-Seed to pre-Series A rounds with initial cheque sizes typically ranging between $1 Mn-$3 Mn. 

The VC firm said that KWF II would also provide a similar ticket size but with an upward limit of $4 Mn. It’s a sector-agnostic fund.

KWF II, unlike Kae Capital’s regular funds, will invest in startups of its previous funds. Hence, with this fund, the VC firm won’t lead any rounds but rather co-invest with other growth-stage funds in Series B, C, and D rounds, the statement added.

In addition to its own portfolio, Kae Capital would also invest in other market-leading companies with KWF II, it said. The fund has already invested in HealthKart, Wysa, Brightchamps, and Disprz.

Through KWF II, the VC firm aims to invest in 20 companies. 

Kae Capital, launched in 2012, has invested in 81 startups in total, including Porter, Zetwerk, Nazara, and Tata 1mg, among others. 

Its portfolio enterprise valuation stands at $8.76 Bn. Kae Capital has also made 14 exits. 

In November last year, Kae Capital announced the final close of its third fund at INR 767 Cr.

The announcement comes at a time when the startup ecosystem has witnessed the launch and closure of several funds over the last few months. 

Earlier this week, private equity firm Xponentia Capital announced the final close of its Xponentia Opportunities Fund II after it raised INR 1,000 Cr from investors. Early stage VC Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India also raised $541 Mn for its fifth fund.

Prior to that, Pentathlon Ventures announced the launch of its second fund, while Unicorn India Ventures announced the first close of its INR 1,000 Cr fund III.

Recently, gradCapital launched its $6 Mn second fund to invest in student startups.

As per Inc42 analysis, VC, angel, and PE investors have announced 52 funds worth over $3.8 Bn till August to support Indian startups at various stages despite the funding winter.