NEW DELHI: Early-stage venture capital firm Inflexor Ventures has made the first close of its new Rs 500 crore fund at Rs 230 crore, one of the largest for a domestic, technology-focused investor this year.
Inflexor Technology Fund, which was set up by the founders of the erstwhile Parampara Fund, has brought on board SBICap Ventures as an anchor investor.
The fund, which also has a green shoe option of Rs 200 crore, also counts the likes of Sidbi, from its startup-focused fund-of-funds, and Survam Partners, the family office of Suman Kant Munjal, as its other key institutional investors.
“We are seeing increased focus on digitisation and technology innovation globally and it’s going to accelerate further, particularly in India in the current environment,” said Jatin Desai, managing partner of Inflexor Ventures. “We want to identify the right technology startups at an early stage and help them scale up in India and sell to global markets and in the process hopefully make some decent returns for our investors.”
Inflexor Technology Fund will primarily look to back startups operating in the B2B/Enterprise, AR/VR, Big Data, Robotics, Cybersecurity, Blockchain, IoT, and other sectors that look to leverage technology, Deep Tech, intellectual property and innovation.
The fund’s initial cheque size will range between Rs 5 crore and Rs 7 crore, with follow-on funding of between Rs 15 crore and Rs 20 crore, ideally coming in pre-Series A to A-plus capital raising rounds.
“We see a huge opportunity for emerging, new-age Indian technology companies, given the availability of a large young talent pool and the entrepreneurial spirit of founders,” Venkat Vallabhaneni, managing partner, said. “Given our experience as entrepreneurs prior to becoming VCs, we can work closely with the founders at an early-stage and guide them in their formative years,” he added.
Inflexor Ventures’ first close is the latest by an early stage investment firm in India.
Earlier this week, ET reported that StartupXseed Ventures, a Bengaluru-based investment firm had announced the first close of its Rs 200 crore fund, while 3one4 Capital had also launched its third early-stage fund, a $100 million investment vehicle, last week.
Early stage venture investments have picked up significantly since July, after a relatively slow period of deal-making in the previous quarter, multiple investors have told ET.
The pandemic is throwing up opportunities for new digital businesses, prompting more entrepreneurs to enter the fray.
Deal flow and the number of startup ideas a venture firm evaluates registered a more than 50% uptick from the previous quarter, multiple investment firms told ET.
Parampara Fund was backed by IDFC, which was an anchor investor through its alternate asset management arm IDFC Alternatives.
IDFC has since exited its alternate asset management entity, having sold that business to Bahrain-based Investcorp in 2019.
Fund-1, a 2015 vintage fund, was a Rs 100 crore investment vehicle, which counted the likes of Bellatrix Aerospace, Atomberg Technologies, Entropik Tech, and PlayShifu, in its portfolio, a number of which have, since then, gone on to raise growth capital.
It claims to have returned an estimated 50% to investors.
The fund made 12 investments and has recorded two exits – S-Cube Futuretech was acquired for an undisclosed sum by US-based Bentley Systems in 2018, while it sold part of its stake in Atomberg Technologies in a secondary transaction last year to A91 Partners, in a $10 million funding round.
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