Indian early-stage venture capital firm Veda VC on Monday said it has made the first close of its $30-million (Rs 250 crore) fund with investments from family offices and startup founders.
Veda VC, which has backed 41 startups, including Dukaan, Even Health, One Impression, Agnikul, Rigi, and GrowthSchool, plans to invest between $250,000 and $1.25 million in Indian startups in sectors across software-as-a-service, fintech, deeptech, and consumer Internet.
The firm primarily backs seed to pre-Series A stages and manages more than Rs 250 crore in capital.
The fund, which has made nine deployments so far, targets a portfolio distribution of 25% each in SaaS and consumer technology, 30% in deeptech, and 20% in the rest, founder and managing partner Avijeet Alagathi told The Economic Times. It is expected to do 10-12 investments in a year, he said.
Veda VC’s fund launch comes even as private equity and venture capital investments into Indian startups have been on a downward trajectory after hitting a peak in Q3 2021.
Early-stage transactions, however, have largely remained unscathed by the funding winter and continued to dominate deal volume in Q2 2023. At 89, deal volume in Q2 was also up 17% from Q1. Pre-seed and seed-stage deals cumulatively raised $192.7 million in the quarter, up 67% from Q1, according to data from DealStreetAsia DATA VANTAGE’s India Deal Review: Q2 2023 report.
Earlier this year, Indian early-stage venture capital fund pi Ventures raised $85 million in the final close of its second fund, 2.5 times more than its predecessor fund, to invest in AI and deeptech startups.
“In 2019, we began as a community of founders aiming to assist other founders at the angel stage. Veda has become one of the most active seed investors, investing approximately $10 million annually across various startups,” Vasant Rao, founder and Managing Partner of Veda VC, said in a statement.