SAIF Partners Looks To Raise $350 Mn India Focussed Fund

Venture capital and private equity firm SAIF Partners is reportedly raising its third India-dedicated fund of $350 Mn.

SAIF Partners India VI Ltd is looking to raise $350 Mn, as per filings with the US market regulator Securities and Exchange Commission.

The fund is led by Managing Partner Ravi Adusumalli, along with five managing directors Deepak Gaur, Mukul Arora, Vivek Mathur, Vishal Sood, and Alok Goel. The firm has a portfolio of over 60 companies, with offices in Gurugram and Bengaluru.

SAIF Partners has been investing in India since 2001. It specialises in private equity and venture capital across Asia. Its focus area includes IT, ITes, industrials, financial aervices, Internet, consumer product, and mobile. SAIF Partners’ portfolio includes Paytm, Network18, HomeShop18, BookMyShow, etc.

In February 2017, SAIF Partners exited from its investment in travel portal MakeMyTrip (MMT) with a whopping 16X return. SAIF Partners had invested about $25 Mn in MakeMyTrip between 2005 and 2008 and owned about 41% stake in the company when it debuted on Nasdaq in 2010. The VC firm was left with about 11.8% holding in MakeMyTrip in October 2016 and clocked about 16 times return on its investment in MMYT, post the merger.

The VC firm was expected to gain about $300 Mn-$400 Mn returns on its Paytm bet in May 2017, by partially selling its stake to SoftBank. In the same month, SAIF Partners participated in the $80 Mn Series E funding of online food delivery startup Swiggy.

In January, it was reported that Japanese investment major – SoftBank Capital, will facilitate its investments in India via its $100 Bn tech focussed fund, Vision Fund. In February, Bengaluru-based venture partner firm Stellaris Venture Partners has completed the first close of its $100 Mn maiden fund.

Apart from SAIF Partners, other VCs active in the Indian startup space include Sequoia Capital India, Tiger Global, YourNest, Norwest Venture Partners, Blume Ventures, Helion Venture Partners, Accel Partners, etc.

(The development was reported by ET.)