Early-stage venture fund 3one4 Capital September 2 stated it is elevating its third and largest fund up to now worth $100 million to put money into technology-led startups.
The fund is controlled by Pranav Pai and Siddharth Pai, sons of former Infosys senior executive TV Mohandas Pai.
3one4 has already raised about forty percentage of the fund, marking its first close – which permits it to begin deploying the money, whilst nonetheless raising the rest of the fund. About 30-40 percentage of the fund will have new investors- restricted partners, whilst the relaxation might be from existing LPs.
“A bigger fund gives us the option to be more flexible with cheque sizes, support companies longer, and look at new sectors,” said Pranav Pai, founding partner, 3one4, on a call with Moneycontrol.
It ambitions to close this fund in the subsequent 12-18 months. 3one4’s current portfolio consists of meat delivery startup Licious, social media app Mitron, software program startup Darwinbox, neobanks Jupiter and Open, and Yulu Bikes amongst others.
3one4 has been capable of raise a new fund in the course of the coronavirus pandemic due to the fact lots of its portfolio companies- especially online services, have benefitted the businesses by boosting virtual consumption.
The fund’s backers encompass Emory Investment Management, a massive US endowment that manages the belongings of Emory University, Emory Healthcare and The Carter Center; Sojitz – a main Japanese corporation, Catamaran Ventures- former Infosys CEO Narayana Murthy’s personal investment arm, and Infina – a personal funding company owned by the Kotak family, except different Indian institutions and family offices.
3one4 raised its debut fund of Rs a hundred crore in 2016, observed by a Rs 250 crore 2nd fund in 2017. Last year, it additionally raised a Rs four hundred crore opportunity fund- intended to back the best performing portfolio businesses, and not new offers.
Like maximum VCs who enhance successively large funds, this lends to a method of selecting fewer businesses than before, but writing large cheques. From the new fund, 3one4 additionally desires to put money into agri-tech and fitness startups- both sectors in which it has not been very active before.
“We have been a little slow with agri, but the last few years we have consistently seen a few decently sized companies get created. On healthcare, we have been especially cautious because it is more regulated, and because lives are at stake, so it needs additional caution. But we think this sector is coming of age,” Pai said.
3one4’s fundraise additionally shows a relatively positive investing environment, after the preliminary months of doom and gloom for the startup ecosystem- which become surpassed a harsh reality check through the pandemic, leading to layoffs, offers called off, and sharp falls in revenue.
Since then, Sequoia India has closed $1.35 billion in price range to be deployed in the subsequent years, whilst Lightspeed India has additionally raised a $275 million fund, its third and biggest so far- indicating higher sentiment.
