Venture capital firm Chiratae Ventures on Wednesday said it has hit the final close of its ‘Growth Fund I’ at Rs 1,001 crore ($122 million) that seeks to fund companies at Series C or later stages.
The fund’s initial target was to raise Rs 750 crore, and it was oversubscribed by 34% at the lower end of its target. Chiratae Ventures had told DealStreetAsia earlier that the fund will be oversubscribed by 30-50%.
This comes more than six months after the firm had raised $93 million (Rs 759 crores) for the first close of the fund.
Chiratae Ventures has raised six early-stage funds and manages assets worth $1.1 billion. It has been an early backer of technology-led companies such as Bizongo, Curefit, EarlySalary, Firstcry, GoMechanic, Lenskart, Myntra, PolicyBazaar, Pyxis, Vayana, and Uniphore, among others. It has recorded 130 investments, 48 exits, 8 unicorns, and three IPOs.
It closed its fourth fund, oversubscribed at $337 million, in 2021.
“We have brought in a substantial focus on margins and path to profit. We have advised all the companies and said that they have to turn profitable in the next 12-18 months, and that is bringing a lot of sanity in the ecosystem,” TC Meenakshi Sundaram, founder and Vice-Chairman of Chiratae Ventures, said in interaction with Moneycontrol.
Chiratae’s growth fund also comes as many large and small VC firms such as Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed, Elevation Capital, Accel, and Matrix have also raised India-dedicated funds in the past year, highlighting global investors’ increasing bet on the country’s startup ecosystem.
Earlier this year, Iron Pillar, a venture growth investor that backs technology companies in India, raised at least $128.83 million for its second fund so far.