9Unicorns, the venture fund set up by incubator and accelerator Venture Catalysts, said on Friday it has reached the third close of its first accelerator vehicle at $40 million (Rs 298 crore).
The Mumbai-based firm said that its total fund size was $70 million (Rs 520 crore) and it plans to achieve the final close this year.
The fund had already committed investments in about 40 startups within seven months of its first close, 9Unicorns said.
It added that the third close witnessed huge participation from some global and Indian industrialists. Key limited partners (LPs) include snack maker Haldiram's, Indian Bank, and Ahmedabad-based Chona Family Office.
"As a fund, we aim to back early-stage companies that have the potential to become billion-dollar companies. We have made our third close much before our set target,” said Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, managing director and founder of 9Unicorns.
The fund aims to write first external cheques to about 150 early-stage startups over the next year in sectors including deep-tech, media, fintech, and edtech.
9Unicorns' portfolio includes interactive video shopping platform Toch.ai, revenue-based financing firm Klub, fertility care provider Janani, and marketing automation firm ExtraaEdge.
Audio production automation firm Deepsync, D2C lifestyle footwear brand Monrow, and edutech Qin1 also sit in the portfolio.
The accelerator fund is backed by global venture capital firms, limited partners, and family offices of large organisations such as The OPG Group, The MBG Group, and Parakh Foods.