Knowlarity Founder Ambarish Gupta Launches $50 Mn Basis Vectors Fund

US-headquartered private equity company Basis Vectors has raised $50 Mn for its first fund. The investment has come in from Cianna Capital with participation from the UHNW family offices of Rajesh Jain, founder of Netcore, Abhishek Goel and Tracxn.

The alternative investment fund founded in 2019 and launched in May 2020 is the brain-child of Knowlarity founder Ambarish Gupta and Cianna Capital cofounder Upmanyu Misra. The company plans to acquire, transform and accelerate vertically-focused B2B software as a service (SaaS) companies. 

It claims to transform high-potential yet undervalued SaaS companies which demonstrate the potential for long-term growth and robust balance sheets. The company with its 40-member team helps businesses with capital as well as helps them set up operational structures using a proprietary SaaS Machine Platform.

The company focuses on customers with ARR between $1 Mn and $10 Mn and with subsequent client retention of over 80%. Using its SaaS platform, Basis Vectors delivers operational efficiency in sales, marketing, engineering and finance functions. 

Headquartered in New York with offices in Silicon Valley, India and Ukraine, the firm says that it aims to create an IPO-worthy portfolio by utilising its capital and offer the low-cost advantage through its SaaS platform to help its portfolio improve cash flow, accelerate growth and achieve scale 

In a LinkedIn post, Gupta said that Basis Vectors Capital and the SaaS machine operating capabilities gave entrepreneurs the advantage they need to build a lean and mean capital-efficient growth machine. “No more capital-raising cycles. No more reinventing the wheels. No more the game of “one winner and nine losers”. This will truly democratise SaaS entrepreneurship,” he added.

The firm is currently, however, focused on North American markets, despite the growing opportunity for SaaS products in the Indian market.  

Gupta’s first venture Knowlarity provides cloud-based communications solutions to businesses in emerging markets and offers business telephony software to some of the world’s leading corporations. Misra, the company’s CIO, is a venture capital and private equity professional with full investment cycle exposure. He currently leads Cianna Capital.