August 15, 2024: 35North Ventures has secured Rs 100 crore in the first phase of its debut CAT-I alternative investment fund (AIF), India Discovery Fund II. India Discovery Fund – II follows 35North’s first CAT-I AIF, with a total corpus of Rs 500 crore and a Rs 100-crore greenshoe option.
“We have closed subscription for India Discovery Fund-I with over 130 crores in March, this year. The investment theme in the India Discovery Fund-II will be similar to the IDF-I.
In a statement issued by the firm Milan Sharma, Founder & MD, 35North Ventures said “35North has invested in 16 companies across 10 sectors, mostly across pre-Series A rounds. We will be investing in a few more businesses around the same thesis.”
35North Ventures to Invest in Sunrise Sectors
The newly launched fund will be managed by Sunil Gurbaxani, former MD and CEO of Dhan Laxmi Bank and operating partner with 35North Venture Capital. Already the fund has secured Rs 100 crore in commitments from limited partners, encompassing high-net-worth individuals in India and overseas including few corporate family offices.
“Post the inception of our second fund in June this year, our focus will be on companies with scalable business models and foreseeable growth. It seeks to provide growth capital to companies across categories such as energy, consumer brands, fintech, and defence, amongst others,” added Gurbaxani.
Founded in 2021, India Discovery Fund invests in asset-light, tech-enabled business models. “The average cheque size would be in the range of Rs 5 crore-10 crore, across 30-40 companies, given the large corpus,” Gurbaxani stated.
35North Ventures uses its own proprietary investment models and algorithmicapproach to provide risk-adjusted targeted returns to its investors, said the firm in the statement.
The early-stage VC firm obtained SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) nod for the launch of its second fund in June this year.
The firm’s portfolio comprise companies from sectors such as edtech, fintech, military tech, fashion, and food & beverages, with investments in CloudTailor, SpeEdLabs, Big Bang Boom, New Space Research and Technology, Explurger, Stupa Sports Analytics, among others.
