Venture debt firm Innoven Capital India Fund has announced the first close of its new fund at Rs 740 crore (USD 100 million).The first close was done with anchor investor Innoven Capital. It is a joint venture between Seviora, a cowned subsidiary of Temasek, and United Overseas Bank. The fund has a target corpus of ₹1,000 crore, with a green shoe option to raise an additional ₹1,000 crore.
Earlier multiple reports suggested that Innoven was looking to raise fund independently to provide debt to startups, in an attempt to do more deals and simplify its structure during a record startup funding boom in India.
InnoVen has backed some leading start-ups in the country including Byjus, Swiggy, Oyo Rooms, Eruditus, DailyHunt, PharmEasy, Infra.Market, Zetwerk, Moglix, FirstCry, BharatPe, boAT, Licious, Blackbuck, Rebel Foods, and Ofbusiness, among others.
Ashish Sharma, Managing Partner, InnoVen Capital India Fund, said, “India is now home to over 50 unicorns and the third-largest venture eco-system globally. Over the years, we have been fortunate to partner with some of the best founders and start-ups, including 17 that have achieved a unicorn status. Our portfolio companies have raised over $20 billion of external capital and now valued at over $70 billion.”
Tarana Lalwani, Partner, said, “At InnoVen, we continue to champion the rise of entrepreneurship and be an active participant in the growth of the venture eco-system. The new fund will help us to engage with even more start-ups and to continue to build out a truly, unique platform which collaborates with the best founders and investors”.
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Sameer Mansukhani, Partner, said, “With record fund raising and a vibrant IPO market, we expect a multi-fold increase in formation of new start-ups, which will lead to higher demand for venture debt in the future. Venture debt is now an integral part of financing rounds and founders have a good appreciation of the product. We have built a robust pipeline and expect to start disbursing from the fund soon”.
