Early-stage investor Elevation Capital (formerly SAIF Partners), which has backed unicorns like Swiggy, Paytm, Urban Company and Meesho, has closed its eighth India-dedicated fund with a corpus of $670 million, its largest ever.
Elevation said it would continue to focus on funding in the Seed and Series A stages of early-stage companies. It will invest in sectors such as consumer internet, fintech,
SaaS, apart from Web3 and
cryptocurrency.
“Fund VIII will allow us to demonstrate a greater commitment to exceptional founders with a larger initial investment and continued support to them until much later in their journeys,” the firm said in a statement.
As per the company, its investment pace has been accelerating and went up by 100 percent, just in the past 12 months.
Since its inception in 2002,
Elevation claims to have invested almost $2 billion in over 150 companies across seven funds, with 13 of them turning unicorns — such as social media firm ShareChat and
Meesho, home services provider Urban Company, real estate portal NoBroker and online car-buying app Spinny and Acko Insurance.
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Its stakes in
Swiggy, Meesho, ShareChat and Urban Company alone are worth over $1.5 billion, almost four times the size of its last $400 million fund.
The VC said India's startup ecosystem has the potential to grow over 10X in the next decade, with Indian tech companies reaching a market cap of $2 million.
“We believe we are in the golden age of Indian entrepreneurship and technology-driven innovation that will spearhead India’s rise to an economic superpower. 20 years ago, when Elevation (then SAIF Partners) first started investing in India, it was difficult to imagine the pace at which tech would pervade every sphere of life. We at Elevation feel proud and privileged to be an enabler for many transformative founders from the very start of their journeys,” the firm added.
Several sector-centric funds have been launched by venture capitalists and investors lately. Aavishkaar Capital launched Aavishkaar India Fund VI of $130 million to focus on sustainable agritech, financial inclusion and climate tech. Speciale Invest also announced the
final closure of its fund — the Speciale Invest Continuity Fund I, at Rs 286 Crore. Meanwhile, 2021 was a banner year for venture capital firms like Stellaris Venture Capital, A91 Partners, and Sixth Sense Ventures, all of which doubled or tripled their fund sizes.
The last couple of years have been unprecedented for the startup ecosystem in India, one where startups reached for the stars. VC funding hit a record $38.5 billion in 2021, with 44 companies joining the coveted unicorn club.
