Bangalore-based growth stage investor Elev8 Venture Partners on Friday said that it has marked the first close of its maiden investment vehicle, Elev8-Capital Fund 1, at $67 million, nearly a year after its launch.
The sector-agnostic fund, which is led by former Kae Capital partner Navin Honagudi, looks to invest the corpus in 12 to 14 companies within a valuation range of $100 million to $500 million. It will primarily enter Series B and C rounds in growth-stage tech companies. The average ticket size of investments would range from $10-$15 million.
“In a market environment where fundraising has been extremely challenging, Elev8 through its strong value proposition and stellar GP (general partner) track record has been able to attract some of the leading family offices, and prominent HNIs from across India, the Middle East and Asia,” said Navin Honagudi, Managing Partner, Elev8 Venture Partners.
In the past, Honagudi had primarily invested in segments like consumer internet, enterprise, fintech, edtech and healthtech. Prior to Kae Capital, he was associated with the corporate venture arm of Reliance.
Elev8, which claims to be India’s first pro-rata fund, is anchored by South Korea’s Financial conglomerate KB Investment. Incubator and early-stage venture capital firm Venture Catalysts (VCats) is an institutional co-founder of the fund. It claims that it has access to oversubscribed rounds of tech companies by investing alongside top-tier growth funds.
The fund was launched in September last year with a target corpus of $200 million. The fund has an AIF Cat II license from the Securities and Exchange Board of India. The fund also includes an undisclosed green-shoe option.
Meanwhile, Elev8 said that it has already signed a term sheet with a company in the enterprise SaaS space. It is now aiming to bet big on digital-first companies. In addition to financial support, it will assist its portfolio companies in expanding their global outreach and strengthen their presence in SEA markets where KB has already established a strong network through partnerships and investments, the fund said.
