Basis Vectors, the software-as-a-service-focussed venture capital and private equity firm, has launched a new fund with a corpus of $50 million (approximately Rs 377.79 crore at current exchange rates).
The investment exercise has been led by Cianna Capital, with participation from family offices including those of Netcore founder Rajesh Jain, and Tracxn’s Abhishek Goel, Basis Vectors said in a statement.
The alternative asset management firm was set up by Ambarish Gupta, the founder of cloud technology firm Knowlarity, and JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup veteran Upmanyu Misra.
It invests in vertically focussed business-to-business SaaS companies that show long-term growth potential with strong balance sheets. It has a presence in countries such as the US and India.
Gupta said the firm would not operate the new vehicle like a traditional investment arm but would incorporate its proprietary model to the mix.
“Our real differentiator is our unique, proprietary operating model, SaaSMachine, which stands on four pillars: engineering, finance, sales & support, and marketing. We call these the vectors of success,” he said.
Basis Vectors says it has a team of over 40 professionals across its present geographies.
“Our approach is quite different from that of a typical fund in that we lead with the expectation that most of our portfolio companies will be around for decades,” Misra added.
Deals in the SaaS segment
The announcement of the new investment vehicle comes even as PE and VC attention to the SaaS space continues to grow. Companies in the segment seek to provide solutions to automate workflows, reduce overheads and streamline operational processes. Platforms operated by them are based on technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Earlier this month, no-coding platform CodeNinjai.ai raised an undisclosed sum of funding from the Early Adapters Syndicate (EaSyndicate) of LetsVenture, a platform for angel investing and startup fundraising.
In April, a PE fund managed by Tata Group company Tata Capital Ltd invested $5 million (Rs 38 crore) in Indusface Consulting Pvt. Ltd, an application security-focussed software-as-a-service company.
Similarly last month, the business travel-focused Itilite Technologies Pvt. Ltd raised $13 million (Rs 99.45 crore) in a Series B funding round. The exercise was led by the California-based Greenoaks Capital and existing backer Dubai-based Vy Capital, with participation from others including Matrix Partners India.
