The VC market in India is flourishing, thanks to Indian startups reaching new heights this year. The potential is huge, and thus, venture capitalists have been looking to make new and bold bets. With this in mind, Pentathlon Ventures, a B2B Saas oriented fund founded by ‘founders turned funders’, has announced the close of its maiden fund at ₹76 crore.
The firm also notes that the fund was oversubscribed, and will now be used to invest in 20+ B2B SaaS startups in a year and make investments between ₹75 lakh and ₹3 crore on an average.
Found by industry veterans Gireendra Kasmalkar (Ideas to Impacts), Sandeep Chawda (formerly MD at Globant India), Madhukar Bhatia (co-founder Sapience Analytics), Saurabh Lahoti (has run 3 early-stage funds in past), Hemant Joshi (Cofounder Sapience Analytics), and Shashank Deshpande (co-founder Clarice Technologies), Pentathlon is looking to serve as a bridge between pre-Seed and Round A for B2B Saas companies.
The company is looking to invest in businesses that have a proven product market fit, possess strong intellectual property, and display the potential for market disruption. It said that one of its primary goals is to identify and collaborate with those who exhibit the ‘DNA of Scale’, adding that startups who possess this unique trait show a deep understanding of their market as well as their limitations.
The best part of this is that all the founding members of the fund are entrepreneurs as well, and thus, understand what challenges startups face at the beginning of their journey. Thus, they will take an active role all material aspects of the early-stage business building process. Portfolio companies will be able to reach out to the fund’s founders for their deep domain knowledge, extensive global reach, and hard-won experience in scaling various tech ventures.
“We appreciate the confidence and trust our investors have shown in our team and strategy. Not to mention the unwavering support of the brilliant entrepreneurs who continue to partner with us,” says, Gireendra Kasmalkar, Managing Partner, Pentathlon Ventures.
“We are proud to say companies in our portfolio showed great resilience during the recent pandemic downturn,” says Saurabh Lahoti, Managing Partner, Pentathlon Ventures. “Their solid performances coupled with the consistency of our investment strategy are what I think ultimately struck a chord with a world-class pool of investors,” he adds.
