Venturi Partners Raises $175 Mn To Back Indian And SEA Startups

Venturi Partners has fully closed its first consumer-focused fund at $175 Mn. The VC firm closed the round on Tuesday, according to a press statement.

The fund has been anchored by three cornerstone limited partners (LPs)– Peugeot Invest, Ackermans & Van Haaren, and Frederic De Mevius. Venturi Partners has also received funds from European and Asian family offices.

Venturi Partners completed the entire fundraising process during the pandemic. It had started doing so in January 2020, right before the Covid-19 pandemic took over the world.

Venturi Partners invests in growth stage startups ranging from Series B to Series D, with a ticket size ranging between $10 Mn to $40 Mn, for a 5-10% equity ownership. The firm also prefers a board seat in the invested startups as well.

With the current fund, Venturi will fund about eight deals, and according to a press statement, that will allow it to ‘take focused bets for its portfolio.’ Incidentally, almost a third of this current fund, or $52.5 Mn, has already been deployed in three investments.

It focuses on startups from Southeast Asia and India, with an eye for areas such as social commerce, e-groceries, quick commerce, edtech and healthtech.

“We want something where a customer is going after a brand and the company takes a brand loyal product-driven approach. An effective online-offline strategy distribution is also important so the company’s touchpoints are much more effective in terms of campaign efforts. Both of these will really lead to a tangible differentiation,” said Rishika Chandan, executive director at Venturi Partners.

Chandan further emphasised the importance of strong unit economics for its investments. 

According to the executive director, Venturi Partners looks at a number of metrics which include lifetime value, customer acquisition costs (CAC), and net promoter scores (NPS), among others; to assess how capable a startup is in retaining its customers. Chandan also noted that the startups that Venturi picks have to be 18-24 months away from profitability.

“We start connecting with potential founders early when they’re hitting around $10 Mn annual recurring revenue (ARR). This allows us to build a relationship with them as they grow. When we start getting comfortable writing cheques is when they’re around $15 Mn (ARR),” Chandan added.

Venturi has a holding period of about 5-7 years for its investments and expects its portfolio to seek exits via M&As or IPOs.

This is the first time Venturi Partners has raised a consumer-focused fund. It has previously participated in the $90 Mn Series D of Livspace, the Bengaluru-based home design and decor service provider.

This last week, there have been four fund announcements. 

Chief among them are early-stage VC firm Antler India’s Antler India Residency, a cohort-based programme, for aspiring entrepreneurs, setting aside $15 Mn for the same. And Mumbai-based startup incubator Venture Catalysts has plans to launch a new growth-stage fund, raising about $100 Mn in the process.

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