Elev8 Venture Partners, a venture capital firm backed by Venture Catalysts, has announced the launch of its $200-million India-focused fund to invest in growth-stage, technology-driven companies.
In a statement, Elev8 said the sector-agnostic fund will invest in Series B and C rounds in startups based out of India with a ticket size of $5-15 million. It has received an alternative investment fund (AIF) category II licence from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
The fund will be led by Navin Honagudi and continue to be backed by Venture Catalysts, one of India’s top early-stage platforms. This will be the fourth fund backed by Venture Catalysts.
Elev8’s previous investments include India’s leading fintech company Paytm, Intracity logistic marketplace Shiprocket, Edtech platform Vedantu, Agritech platform Reshamandi, and other significant startups such as Bharatpe, Kenko, BluSmart, Beardo, Niyo, Goat, Airmeet, Toch & Zypp.
“Even though liquidity in technology investments is drying up, Elev8 has received an overwhelming LP interest as well as partnership avenues with seed funds, as the current vintage offers an excellent opportunity to invest in growth-stage companies and earn/target attractive returns,” said Honagudi.
Elev8 said it has built proprietary data-driven algorithms in its investment framework, providing LPs with strong visibility into its capital deployment strategy.
The launch of the fund comes as fundraising by Indian startups bounced back in August as venture capital and private equity investors put a total of $1.2 billion to work across 113 transactions, according to proprietary data compiled by DealStreetAsia.
This was 36% higher than in July, when startups had raised $885 million across 119 transactions. However, the aggregate deal value in August was almost one-third of the capital raised in the corresponding period last year.
PE and VC exits in India, however, dropped 66% in value to $7.1 billion in January-July this year from the $21 billion raised from 153 exits in the same period last year.