Early-stage venture capital investor Stellaris Venture Partners, which has backed names such as Mamaearth, Propelld and Whatfix, has marked the close of its third fund to back fledgling startups in technology-enabled spaces.
The $300 million fund (over Rs 2,500 crore) is the Bengaluru-based VC firm's biggest so far. It had closed its second fund with a corpus of $225 million in 2021.
The firm said Thursday that the fund will look to invest in 25-30 startups over the next three years, disbursing up to $10 million in cheque size.
So far, the VC firm has invested in an AI test automation startup through the fund. It did not reveal the details of the company or the amount invested.
"India’s startup ecosystem has transformed since we started our fund, with a 4x growth in the deal flow and a rise in repeat entrepreneurs and founders from successful startups. With this new fund, we’re excited to back founders using technology to solve deep problems in large markets," said Rahul Chowdhri, partner at Stellaris Venture Partners.
It has roped in existing limited partners (LPs) along with commitments from new investors, including university endowments, foundations, pension funds, and fund of funds, the VC firm said in a statement. With the launch of the new fund, Stellaris's assets under management has grown to $600 million.
Stellaris on Thursday also announced some elevation in ranks, including that of Naman Lahoty, a repeat entrepreneur and previously a principal, to a partner and Chetan GMS, previously senior vice president, to chief financial officer.
Since its founding in 2017, Stellaris has invested in tech startups across two funds, 60% of which were early-stage businesses. It tends to serve as a lead investor in seed and Series A rounds of companies and supports its portfolio firms across multiple rounds of financing.