Asian private equity firm, SAIF Partners has rebranded itself to ‘Elevation Capital’ and has also announced the closing of its new fund worth $400 million. The VC firm looks to back more early-stage startups with its seventh India focused fund.
Ravi Adusumalli, the managing partner of SAIF Partners, told TechCrunch, “Elevation reflects our investment ethos and re-emphasizes our commitment to the founders who help redefine our future. For our existing partners, it is a commitment of continued collaboration on our path-breaking journeys together. For our new partners, it is a promise to do all we can to achieve great heights together, from day one.”
Elevation’s new fund will target startups across all sectors such as SaaS, digitization of longtail SMEs, content, gaming and consumer brands. “Enterprise SaaS is one area where we are spending a lot of resources. We believe the time has come for this sector and we will see many global companies emerge from India,” said Deepak Gaur, managing director at Elevation Capital. The Limited partners for the seventh fund remain the same, as pointed out by Adusumalli. These LPs are majorly US-based and non-profits.
Elevation Capital also said half of its new fund will be reserved for follow-on investments in the best-performing companies from its portfolio. The $400 million fund will be led by Ravi Adusumalli along with Deepak Gaur, Mayank Khanduja, Mridul Arora, Mukul Arora and Vivek Mathur.
Founded back in 2001, SAIF Partners has invested in several Indian Indian startups which include unicorns like One97 Communications, Swiggy and Unacademy. It raised $350 million in 2010 for its first India-focussed fund, followed by more funds of the same amount in the following years. Its sixth fund, which closed in 2017, was also worth $350 million and was dedicated to early-stage startups. SAIF Partners (or Elevation Capital now) has backed more than 100 startups to date and continues to bet on more startups in their early years.
Mukul Arora, managing director at Elevation Capital told ET, “Our core strategy is we stay very focused. Each partner makes around two investments a year, and the idea is for each of us to commit personally and deeply to each of those companies… we do not make competing investments… If we are coming in, we will come in with full conviction.”
Ravi Adusumalli also announced that a managing partner, Alok Goel, has quit the company after being associated with SAIF Partners for five long years. That being said, he will continue to be part of Elevation’s fund four, five and six and will manage his own portfolio.
After closing its seventh fund, Elevation now manages assets worth $2.4 billion. According to Tracxn, a startup tracking firm, Elevation’s portfolio will have more than 15 startups turning into unicorns in the following years which include PharmEasy, Urban Company, Acko and Rupeek.
