Equity crowdfunding platform 1Crowd has marked the first close its debut angel fund at Rs 23 crore ($3.5 million).
The fund, which is registered with market regulator the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), has a target corpus of Rs 75 crore including a greenshoe option of Rs 25 crore, 1Crowd said in a statement.
VCCircle first reported in December 2016 that 1Crowd is in talks with investors to float its first fund.
1Crowd, which was launched in 2015, is an equity crowdfunding platform. The platform has made investments in over 15 firms including in realty tech startup Zipgrid, community building platform Fourth Ambit and advertising-technology startup Proximit Media India.
The fund is positioned to co-invest with the equity crowdfunding platform, the firm said.
The fund is largely sector agnostic and plans to invest in around 20 companies. It expects to invest around $500,000 in the initial round per company and will look to increase its stake in subsequent rounds for some of its investee companies.
1Crowd’s investor base includes angel investors such as Ganesh Natarajan, chairman, 5F World; Aniruddha Malpani, an IVF specialist; Krishnakumar Natarajan, co-founder and executive chairman, Mindtree; MA Ravi Kumar, former CEO, American India Foundation; Venkat Srinivasan, a serial entrepreneur based in Boston; and Vivek Sharma, CEO of a pharma services company based in Boston.
Fund investors may co-invest via the platform at inception and in subsequent rounds, growing positions in portfolio companies that are successful, said Anil Gudibande, co-founder of 1Crowd.
The 1Crowd fund is one of the few funds approved under SEBI’s revised angel fund guidelines, said Anup Kuruvilla, co-founder of 1Crowd.
1Crowd joins a bunch of venture capital firms in hitting a fundraising milestone. Last year, a clutch of big and small VC firms—including IDG Ventures, Endiya Partners, Stellaris Venture Partners and Fireside Ventures—announced fundraising milestones.
Earlier on Wednesday, early-stage fund Prime Venture Partners announced the close of its third fund at Rs 400 crore (about $60 million).
In January, early-stage venture capital firm pi Ventures marked the second close of its debut fund at $25 million (Rs 160 crore).
Later in the same month, early-stage venture capital firm 3one4 Capital marked the final close of its second fund, exceeding its target corpus after exercising the overallotment option.
In January, VCCircle reported that IvyCap Ventures Advisors was about to finish fundraising for its second fund.