PeerCapital Notches First Close Of Maiden Fund At INR 300 Cr

Bengaluru-based venture capital (VC) firm PeerCapital has completed the first close of its maiden fund at INR 300 Cr ($37.5 Mn), managing partner Ankur Pahwa told Inc42.

The fund is structured as an India Category II Alternative Investment Fund (AIF), Pahwa said, adding that the fund has planned its final close by September 2023, taking the total fund size to INR 600 Cr ($75 Mn). 

There is also a green shoe option of INR 300 Cr ($37.5 Mn), which would potentially take the total fund size to INR 900 Cr ($112.5 Mn). 

PeerCapital aims to deploy back startups in seed to Series A stage with up to $2 Mn in initial cheques.

“These are the stages where the ethos of PeerCapital – value beyond capital – comes into the mix. This is the space where we feel the skills and value that we are able to bring are instrumental,” explained Pahwa about the choice of the startup stages.

The fund will focus on investing in fintech, healthtech, enterprisetech, climate tech and consumer tech enablers. “For each of these, there is a very sharp subsegment thesis we have, but we would be investing in these broad segments,” Pahwa added.

PeerCapital would look to invest in 30 early stage startups via its maiden fund. The managing partner added that the VC firm would reserve some of the capital raised to make follow-on investments in certain startups.

“[PeerCapital] will look to back founders who are building for India, for the world,” added the managing partner.

Pahwa is joined by Rohit MA, the former MD and cofounder of Cloudnine Group of Hospitals and Karthik Prabhakar, the former MD of growth-stage VC firm Chiratae Ventures as managing partners at PeerCapital.

Pahwa and Rohit have personally invested in 30 startups before the first close of PeerCapital’s fund, and so far, three companies have moved into the VC firm’s portfolio. These include home furnishing marketplace Vaaree, managed B2B marketplace Saveo and influencer marketing platform One Impression.

The Bengaluru-based VC firm is also an early-stage investor in the likes of investment platform Jar and social media platform Koo. Other than that, the VC firm has also invested in the social commerce platform Furrl, virtual and secondary phone numbers services provider Doosra and cloud-based workplace management software UrSpayce.

PeerCapital’s announcement comes at a time when India’s VC firm, angel networks and venture debt firms have already announced or closed funds worth INR 5,750 Cr ($695.6 Mn) in 2023 after investors announced or raised 126 funds worth $18.3 Bn in 2022.

Some of the major funds launched this year include Amazon’s $250 Mn fund, 360 ONE and Mumbai Angels’ two new funds worth INR 1,300 Cr ($157.3 Mn), Lighthouse Canton and Z3Partners launching funds worth INR 550 Cr each, among others.