Elev8 ventures has launched a new $200 million sector-neutral fund to invest in deep tech, growth and late stage Indian Startups. The regulatory agency SEBI has granted the fund an AIF Cat II licence. There is also a green-shoe option.
Between $5 million and $15 million will be invested by the fund in growth- and late-stage software firms. It will take part in tech businesses’ Series B and Series C investment rounds.
“Elev8 has received an overwhelming LP interest and partnership avenues with seed funds, as the current vintage offers an excellent opportunity to invest in growth-stage companies and earn attractive returns. We are also in an advanced stage of discussions to establish several global partnerships that will help our portfolio companies expand beyond India,” said Navin Honagudi, partner at Elev8.
Anuj Golecha, a CA, and Honagudi formed the fund together. Honagudi will head the fund, though. He has over 15 years of expertise funding seed and early-stage Internet firms.
Honagudi worked with Kae Capital for more than ten years prior to starting the fund, investing in more than fifty businesses operating in a range of industries. At the start of his career, he also worked for Reliance’s Corporate Venture.
Elev8 said that it has created data-driven algorithms for its investment framework, in turn, giving its limited partners (investors) a better understanding of capital deployment strategy. Some of its portfolio companies are Paytm, Shiprocket, Vedantu, Reshamandi, BharatPe, Kenko, BluSmart, Niyo, Airmeet, Toch and Zypp.
Elev8 Ventures to partner with Seed Funds
According to the firm, Elev8 will also focus on partnering with Indian seed funds that have not invested over $500 Mn of pro-rata capital in 2021 in their portfolio startups.
“We are enthusiastic about Elev8’s approach in a market where there is significant whitespace of domestic growth-stage VC funds. Elev8 reduces risk by entering the growth stage where companies have demonstrated product-market fit, resilience during downturns, and strong founders capable of driving their companies in the right direction,” said Golecha, partner at Elev8 and cofounder of Venture Catalyst.
Venture Catalysts, which is cofounded by Golecha, Dr Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, Anil Jain and Gaurav Jain is an institutional investor of Elev8. Besides Elev8, the VC company has also invested in three other funds including 9Unicorns accelerator fund and Beams Fintech fund, among others to date.
