SUMMARY
Ministry of Commerce is anchor investor of the second fund with an investment of $6.7 Mn
It is planning to invest in education, consumer contracting and contract manufacturing sectors
Till now, the second fund has been invested in Eupheus Learning, LEAP and Saffron Stays
Mumbai-based venture capital firm Sixth Sense Ventures has closed at $67.7 Mn (INR 500 Cr) for its second fund which was launched 10 months back.
The Ministry of Commerce is the anchor investor of the second fund of the firm with an investment of $6.7 Mn (INR 50 Cr). It has also raised capital from others including marquee consumer companies, Indian pharma companies, family offices, and individual investors.
According to reports, the early age venture capital firm had originally planned to raise $33.8 Mn (INR 250 Cr) with an additional greenshoe option of $13.5 Mn (INR 100 Cr). However with rising interest in this space, the firm had to request the market regulator the increase the size of the fund.
According to the capitalist firm, it is planning to focus in areas such as education, consumer contracting and contract manufacturing.
It also announced that the first fund which had been invested in companies such as Ethos watches, Soothe Healthcare, Hindustan Food Limited among others, is likely to give returns to the investors by March next year.
Sixth Sense Ventures has deployed its entire first fund corpus of $16.2 Mn (INR 120 Cr) across 10 companies and has collected an internal rate of return (IRR) of 45%.
Sixth Sense Ventures which was founded in 2014 by Nikhil Vora is planning to use about 20% of the second fund or $13.5 Mn (INR 100 Cr) on follow-on investments while keep aside another 20% for publicly listed companies.
Till now, the firm has used the second fund to invest in edtech startup Eupheus Learning, supply chain solutions provider LEAP, and holiday accommodation platform Saffron Stays.
Venture Capital Funds In India
According to the Inc42 Datalabs’ Indian Tech Startup Funding Report H1 2018, around 166 venture capitalists made investments with Blume Ventures and Accel Partners India claiming the top two positions.
As the Indian startup ecosystem continues to grow, venture capitalists are also growing in the country.
While existing ventures capitalists are looking to expand their company portfolios, many new ventures are also being launched.
Recently, former chairman of Tata Group, Cyrus Pallonji Mistry announced the formation of a private equity venture firm named as Mistry Ventures LLP.
At the same time, Mumbai-based real estate developer Ajmera Group is planning to invest about $10 Mn in technology-based startups.
In October, Chennai-based TVS Capital Funds–the venture capital arm of TVS Group– had completed the first close of its third fund at $112.8 Mn (INR 832 Cr).
[The development was reported by ET]
