VC Fund Caret Capital Launches Caret360 Accelerator Programme

SUMMARY

Under this programme, selected startups will receive up to INR 3 Cr in investment as well as in-depth mentoring from industry leaders

Startups will also have the opportunity to secure further follow-on capital from Caret Capital

Founded in 2020 by Prajakt Raut and Karan Mittal, Caret Capital is a sustainability fund that invests across mobility, distribution, and employment

Gurugram-based venture capital (VC) firm Caret Capital has launched Caret360 Accelerator, a 100-day outcome-focussed programme for early-stage startups.

Under this programme, selected startups will receive up to INR 3 Cr in investment as well as in-depth mentoring from industry leaders. Additionally, the startups will gain assisted access to Caret’s community of CXOs.

Startups will also have the opportunity to secure further follow-on capital from Caret Capital, managing partner Prajakt Raut said.

Caret360 Accelerator will invest in and mentor startups across the three focus areas of Caret Capital: smart mobility, distribution/supply chain, and employment/employability.

In addition, Caret360 Accelerator has a rigorous selection process to identify a distinguished group of startups. The selection process involves multiple stakeholders, including other VCs, corporates, and domain experts, and selects as few as 1% of the startups that apply.

Past cohort companies like Celcius Logistics, Just Deliveries, and others have raised follow-on capital from the fund as well as other marquee VCs. For instance, earlier this month, Caret Capital participated in Celcius Logistics’ INR 40 Cr Pre-Series B round, which was led by IvyCap Ventures.

“Caret provides timely capital, aggregates and makes accessible industry expertise, imparts skills through mentorship and helps startups improve their chances of success,” Sandip Das, co-chair of Caret Innovation Lab and Caret Accelerator, said.

Caret Capital was founded in 2020 by Prajakt Raut and Karan Mittal. Last month, the firm joined forces with EV2 to launch a new $50 Mn India-focussed fund.

Called Caret Capital Fund II, the new fund will invest in early-stage Indian startups (pre-Series A) across three sectors – mobility, distribution, and employment. In a joint statement, the firms said that they have already lined up anchor investors for the new fund.

In April, Caret Capital made two investments — in Kolkata-based logistics platform SuperProcure, and background verification startup TraqCheck, where Lenskart cofounder and CEO Peyush Bansal was a co-investor.