Early stage investment firm Kae Capital has announced closure of a $30 million round from existing and new investors, in its second fund. Along with confirming this funding round, the firm’s founder has also announced that it will raise a further $10 million in this current round.
While Kae Capital had previously invested in a few US-based start-ups from its first fund, this second fund will be completely dedicated to Indian start-ups.
The venture capital firm had raised its first fund of $25 million in March 2012 from investors including Sequoia Capital, SAIF Partners and Omidyar Network, Manish Kejriwal, Deep Kalra, among others.
From its first fund, it invested in around 25 companies, including Myntra, which is now acquired by online eCommerce marketplace Flipkart; InMobi, Fractal Analytics, HandHome, Truebil, Nudgespot, The Porter, etc.
From its latest second fund, it has already invested in at least five start-ups. As per some reports, the firm had exhausted its previous fund in mid-2015 and has since been warehousing its investments. Warehousing allows VCs to invest in start-ups even when they have exhausted their funds or are yet to raise a new fund.
With this new fund, it is planning to invest about $20 million in 40 startups over the next three to five years. It is also planning to double the size of its investments.
So far, it has been investing a ticket size of $500,000. Going forward, the follow-on ticket size also will be increased from $2.5 million to $4 million. The fund will have an investment cycle of 10 years, which could be extended by two years, if required.
Many VC firms are now looking to actively participate in the Indian startup ecosystem. Storm Ventures, a Silicon Valley based VC firm has set aside $10 million for India-only SaaS fund, while China’s APUS and other VC firms has set aside ₹300 Crores for Indian mobile internet firms.
Sequoia Capital, one of the leading VC firm, has closed a massive $920 million India focused fund earlier this week. While Unicorn India Ventures recently closed ₹40 crore of its ₹100 crore fund, 500 Startups is looking to launch “StartupWallah” – an India focused startup fund.
