Unicorn India Ventures (UIV), an early-stage fund house with operations across India, has reported the first close of its Fund III at Rs 225 crore. The final close is projected to be completed by March 2024, with a target of Rs 1000 crore.
The intention of this fund is to invest in around 25 startups. These startups would primarily operate in the sectors of global SaaS and digital platforms, areas where UIV has shown its expertise. The fund will also delve into new sectors like climate tech, agritech, spacetech, and the semiconductor ecosystem, said the company.
Unicorn India Ventures, founded in 2016 by Bhaskar Majumdar and Anil Joshi, is an early-stage venture fund that emphasises technology. After the initial fund's positive outcome, the organisation introduced Fund II in 2020 with Rs 300 crore. The Fund II has 20 companies in its portfolio. In total, with both funds, UIV manages over 35 companies in its active portfolio.
With Fund III, UIV's plan is to remain the first institutional investor for startups. Initial investments are projected to be in the range of $1-2 million, with follow-up investments planned later. The investment structure will involve using only 20% of the available funds to form the initial portfolio, reserving the remainder to support the more successful companies in their portfolio.
Bhaskar Majumdar, Managing Partner, UIV, emphasised understanding the founders' vision, capabilities, and plans before making investments. The company aims to invest in firms that promote India's digital transformation across various sectors.
“We continue to identify innovative business models with faster scalability. The metrics for us is a clear path to profitability for the companies. Being the first institutional investors, before doing any investment we spend considerable time with the founders to understand their vision, team's capabilities, growth plans and leadership style. Our focus is to invest in companies that are enablers of India's digitisation across sectors. We avoid high cash burn businesses like D2C, Consumer Internet, content businesses,” Majumdar said.
Anil Joshi, another Managing Partner, UIV, spoke about the fund's diverse investments, noting that over 60% of their portfolio is made up of startups from regional hubs outside the main cities. He highlighted their collaboration with state governments to establish startup policies and their commitment to nurturing startups throughout India.
In terms of team expansion, UIV recently added Bikram Mahajan as a Partner. Mahajan, an IIM Calcutta graduate, has two decades of experience in the private equity and investment banking sectors. He is expected to focus on portfolio management and guide the growth of the companies in which they invest. Kamlesh Ahuja has also been appointed as VP (Fund Operations), bringing his 15 years of experience in fund operations to oversee compliance and administration for UIV's funds.
