Early to mid stage investor Unicorn India Ventures, has today announced the launch of its second, ₹400 crore (~$58.3 Million) fund. This new fund will primarily look to invest in Pre-Series A/Series A rounds in sectors like B2B, SaaS, fintech, health tech, robotics, gaming and digital content.
According to the firm, Unicorn India is expecting to close ₹150 crore of this fund by the end of this year. It will be raising capital for Fund II from institutional and large family offices in India and overseas and start deploying it by end 2019.
Anil Joshi, Managing Partner, Unicorn India Ventures, says, “We launched our first fund in 2015 and since then invested in a variety of startups ranging from consumer internet to on demand to media tech. Around late 2017, we actively started scouting for investment opportunities in more tech heavy sectors like AI, Robotics, IOT, 3D cyber security and fintech. Today, our portfolio from the first fund is one of the best performing in the industry and we hope to continue our track record with the launch of the 2nd fund.”
Traditionally, Unicorn India has been seen to participate in Angel/Pre-Series A rounds. It will continue with the same philosophy going forward, with an addition of follow-up Series A rounds with the additional capital that it is now planning to raise. In a prepared statement, the firm mentions that it plans on entering startups at an early stage (average investment size of ₹3 – ₹5 crore) and follow up to Series A and B. The investment size has the potential to go up to ₹10-30 crore in follow on rounds.
This is Unicorn India Ventures’ 3rd fund globally as Unicorn India last year also announced a UK -India cross border fund in partnership with UK-based early stage VC Ascension Ventures, which has invested in six growth stage companies in the UK so far.
The fund has had sizable success with its 1st fund. Some of the companies emerging out well from its 1st portfolio include Open Bank, SmartCoin, Sequretek, Pharmarack, NeuroEquilibrium, and Genrobotics.
