Merak Ventures, an early-stage venture capital (VC) company with a aiming a corpus of $100 million, announced its launch on Monday. Over the following three to four years, the fund plans to invest in 18 to 20 firms.
The venture capital firm, which was co-founded by fund managers Manu Rikhye and Sheetal Bahl, will support seed-stage B2B (business-to-business) and emerging technology businesses. While the fund will continue to be sector-neutral, some investment topics that it will actively pursue are InsurTech, Enterprise SaaS, and ClimateTech (which includes AgriTech, mobility, carbon, climate finance, and digital solutions).
“There are passionate founders who want to solve real-world problems and we want to empower them, not just with capital but as a mentor-partner. At Merak, we firmly believe businesses who solve authentic problems will always make for a sound investment.” Manu Rikhye, Partner, Merak Ventures, said.
Merak Ventures to provide active support in strategy, business development, and fundraising.
Sheetal Bahl, Partner, Merak Ventures, stated “Merak is the culmination of a decade of thinking, learning, and investing in the Indian startup ecosystem. It represents our strong belief that financial gains and impact, whether on industry, people, or the planet, are not mutually exclusive. And it is built on the foundation of our passions – B2B and emerging technologies, and our values: boldness, empathy, fun.”
Both founders at Merak are successful fund managers who have been investing in the Indian ecosystem for a decade now. They have focussed on B2B and deep/ emerging tech. growx Ventures Fund I, which they continue to manage, has had a portfolio of 16 investments including category creators and companies such as Cynlr, Pixxel, and Progcap.
