Arkam Ventures has completed the final closure of its maiden fund at $106 million. The early-stage venture capital fund said that its maiden fund, which has invested in 12 companies with a focus on technology innovation for ‘Middle India’ to date, was oversubscribed against the original target of ₹650 crores. The fund, after its closure, stands at ₹790 crores.
Arkam’s maiden fund was backed by global institutional investors, such as British International Investment Plc, Nippon India Digital Innovation, Evolvence Group, Capria, and SIDBI, and other global funds of funds, HNIs, and Indian family offices, along with investors such as Sanjeev Bikhchandani (Founder and Executive VC of Info Edge), Binny Bansal (ex-Chairman and CEO of Flipkart), Vijay Shekhar (Paytm CEO), and Rajesh Magow (MakeMyTrip co-founder and Group CEO).
The fresh capital will be used by the fund to invest in pre-Series A to Series B funding rounds, with check sizes being in the range of ₹10-20 crores. This fits with Arkam’s profile, which is an early-stage technology fund that teams up with founders and innovative ideas which are aimed at what it calls ‘Middle India.’
Formerly known as Unitary Helion Ventures, Arkam has already made investments in several companies so far across categories such as financial services, healthcare, food and agriculture, education, logistics, and SaaS. Founded by Rahul Chandra and Bala Srinivasa, it took part in Invact Metaversity’s round that saw the learning center raise $5 million in seed funding.
This February, Arkam was one of those who invested in crypto investing platform Mudrex’s Pre-Series A funding, the total amount of which came at $6.5 million. Apart from this, it also participated took part in the Series A funding round of Jar this year and Smartstaff’s $4.3 million seed funding round last October.
Other Arkam portfolio companies include wealth management platform Smallcase, e-commerce web app Krazybee, fintech platform Jai Kisan, digital banking infrastructure provider Signzy, contract automation and management software SpotDraft, Wint Wealth, health-tech upstart BestDoc, and wholesale and food grocery platform Jumbotail.
“We are a thesis-driven firm and have a shared vision with each of our portfolio companies. We feel fortunate to be partnering with some of the best teams building new Middle India digital categories or innovating with digital infrastructure that can address the needs of millions of Indians. Each of these companies combines unique insights into a complex problem with a disruptive technology solution that paves the way to large and profitable businesses,” Srinivasa said.
