Venture capital and growth-equity firm Elevation Capital, formerly SAIF Partners, has partnered US-based Think Investments for a blank-cheque firm that has filed for a US listing.
The blank-cheque firm or special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) -- Think Elevation Capital Growth Opportunity -- has filed for a $225 million (Rs 1630 crore) initial public offering (IPO), according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The SPAC intends to list on Nasdaq.
The filing said that although Think Elevation Capital Growth Opportunity has not selected any target, it will be from India.
The SPAC is co-led by Ravi Adusumalli, founder and managing partner, Elevation Capital, and Shashin Shah, founder and managing partner of Think Investments.
Think Investments' Tom Glaser has been appointed as chief financial officer of the SPAC and Elevation Capital’s Vivek Mathur as chief operating officer.
The SPAC's board has brought in Neeraj Arora, global business head WhatsApp; Harsh Jain, founder and president of Dream Sports; Kabir Misra, former managing partner at Softbank Group; and Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder, Paytm.
This development fuels the buzz around SPACs, a nascent concept in India, amidst media reports that Indian startups such as Flipkart and Grofers are looking to list in the US via SPAC.
SPACs are shell firms that raise funds to acquire a private company. This allows those looking to go public skip the traditional IPO and list on the bourse with less regulatory scrutiny.
Elevation Capital raised a new fund last year and rebranded itself from SAIF Partners. It focuses on early-stage investing and has been an early backer of companies such as Paytm, Makemytrip, Swiggy, Justdial, FirstCry, Meesho, ShareChat, NoBroker, Unacademy and Urban Company.
Seven of its early-stage investments have grown through private and public markets to become unicorns with a valuation of at least $1 billion.
Elevation Capital has realised or partially realised over 25 investments since inception.
Since 2013, Think Investments has made around $1 billion worth of bets in Indian companies as of February 28, 2021, including early-stage investments in Dream11, PharmEasy and Chaayos; growth capital investments in National Stock Exchange and Experian PLC; and public investments in Bajaj Finance, Laurus Labs and Radico Khaitan.
