SUMMARY
Saama Capital Will Continue Its Bets On Consumer Brands, Software And Fintech
Bengaluru-based Venture Capital firm, Saama Capital has closed its fourth fund with a corpus of $100 Mn.
According to SEC filing, the first sale for the fund took place on March 28, 2018. 59 LPs invested in the company’s fourth fund.
Saama Capital team previously worked together at SVB India Capital Partners fund that started in 2006. They became an independent firm and Saama Capital was founded in 2012 by Ash Nilani and Suresh Shanmugham.
WIth its fourth fund, the company is expected to continue to focus on consumer brands, software and fintech segment, while writing larger cheques to its bets on early-stage investments. This will also allow the company to invest in the winning products of its portfolio.
Even though the company could have raised more than $100 Mn, the limits on the fund are a part of publicly announced belief of the company. Lilani had said, “People like the discipline we have on size. We have always stayed in the $50-75 Mn range and we have publicly told our LPs we will never go over $100 Mn of fund ever.”
As the company continues its venture into new startups with its fourth fund, the company has backed about 10 companies between 2014 and 2016, including cold-pressed juice maker Raw Pressery, sauce and condiments startup Veeba Foods, online lender LendingKart, and artificial intelligence-driven travel assistant startup Mezi.
The company raised $54 Mn in its first fund, which is expected to give 4-5 times return following its exit from Paytm, Sula Vineyards, Applabs, Tutorvista, SKS Microfinance, Shriram EPC and Prizm Payments.
In the second fund of $26 Mn, the company exited from Snapdeal, Shubham Housing Finance and Agreeya Mobility. One of its most successful and timely exits was from Snapdeal at a valuation of $6.5 Bn, which an year later fell to $1 Bn.
From its third fund of $58 Mn, the company made a successful exit from Mezi.
Recent Venture Capital Funds In India
VC investments in Indian startups have seen a lot of change in the past few years. Inc42’s Indian Tech Startup Funding Report highlighted that over 302 VC firms participated in 650 deals in 2017 alone. The report also said that over 34 new startup fund launches were announced in India in the year 2017 with a combined corpus of $2.3 Bn.
Recently, Venture capital firm India Quotient marked the first close of its $50-$60 Mn new fund raising more than $30 Mn.
In March, Venture debt firm Alteria Capital announced the first close of its maiden venture debt fund with a corpus of $123 Mn (INR 800 Cr).
Also, 1Crowd, an India-based early stage investment firm, announced the first close of its debut venture capital fund at $3.5 Mn.
Furthermore, early stage investment firm Fireside Ventures closed its first fund with a corpus of $52.12 Mn (INR 340 Cr). The VC firm then aimed to invest in 20-25 consumer brand businesses from this fund over the next two to three years.
As Saama Capital closes its $100 Mn fourth fund, all eyes are set on the investments it decides to pursue following its successful and timely exits in the past bearing profits for its investors.
