Arkam Ventures, a venture capital firm floated by former executives at Helion Venture Partners and Kalaari Capital, said it has marked the final close of its first fund at $106 million (Rs 790 crore).
The fund was oversubcribed against its original target of Rs 650 crore, said Arkam Ventures in a statement.
Limited Partners (LPs), or investors, in the fund include British International Investment Plc (formerly CDC group), Nippon India Digital Innovation, Evolvence Group, a global fund of funds, a large US endowment, Capria, and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), it added.
Other LPs include large family offices and prominent startup founders such as Sanjeev Bikhchandani of Info Edge, Binny Bansal, former Flipkart founder, and Vijay Shekhar of Paytm.
Arkam Ventures was founded in 2017 by Rahul Chandra, formerly managing director of Helion Venture Partners, and Bala Srinivasa, formerly a partner at Kalaari Capital.
The founders told VCCircle that 80% of its LPs are institutional investors, a rare for a first fund that has typically banked on family offices and individuals for a fundraise.
The venture capital firm, formerly known as Unitary Helion Ventures, marked the first close of its debut fund in mid 2020. It had recieved Rs 325 crore in commitments.
Arkam Ventures has already invested in twelve companies including Smallcase, Krazybee, Jar, Jai Kisan, Smartstaff, Signzy, SpotDraft, Wint Wealth,
Invact, Mudrex, BestDoc and Jumbotail.
"Seven of these twelve companies have already follow on rounds post Arkam investment at significant mark ups," it added.
The venture capital firm invests in pre-Series A to Series B companies. The initial cheque size of the fund is Rs 10-20 crore. The fund invests in across sectors including financial services, food and agriculture, healthcare, ducation/skilling and mobility.
Last year, several early-stage VC firms announced fundraising milestones. Chiratae Ventures, Stellaris Venture Partners and WaterBridge Ventures announced the final close of their new funds and Blume Ventures announced the first close.
The fundraising momentum is continuing in 2022 as well. In March, Accel India, an early backer of startups such as Flipkart and Freshworks, raised $650 million in commitments for its seventh fund to invest in new opportunities like emerging tech across India and Southeast Asia. In February, early-stage venture capital firm Prime Venture Partners marked the final close of its fourth fund at $120 million.
