Mumbai-based investment banking and asset management firm Avendus Capital said Thursday it has marked the first close of its third private equity fund and is looking to make its first bet from the vehicle in the healthcare sector.
The Avendus Future Leaders Fund III, which was launched in May last year, has mopped up Rs 850 crore ($98.32 million), the firm said in a statement. The fund secured commitments mainly from domestic family offices and institutions.
The announcement comes less than a month after VCCircle reported that Avendus was set to hit the first close of the fund after securing over Rs 800 crore in commitments.
“This milestone also highlights the significant demand for late-stage private equity as a core component of a balanced alternates portfolio," Ritesh Chandra, managing partner at Avendus Future Leaders Fund said in the statement.
The fund has a target of raising Rs 1,500 crore and has a greenshoe option of an equal amount.
The company also said that its first fund has returned 100% of its investor capital within four years, while its second fund has been fully deployed recently.
Avendus had raised Rs 375 crore under the first Future Leaders Fund and Rs 1,500 crore under the second vehicle.
The third fund aims to make 12-14 investments with an average ticket size of Rs 150-300 crore in financial services, healthcare, technology, consumer goods, and manufacturing sectors.
The company said the fund is in the process of finalizing its first investment in the healthcare sector. This reflects its strategy of building a portfolio of “consistent compounders and money multipliers”, it said.
VCCircle previously reported that the firm’s first fund had exited companies such as eyewear retailer Lenskart and the National Stock Exchange of India, generating nearly 4x return for its investors in just four years.
Apart from Lenskart and the NSE, Avendus has previously invested in Bikaji Foods, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, Delhivery, Dailyhunt, Licious, Juspay, Zeta, SBI General Insurance, Sagility Technologies, Indigene, Xpressbees, Veritas Finance, FirstCry and Avanse Financial Services.