Radhesh Kanumury, a former Managing Partner of Arka Venture Labs, has announced launch of his new early-stage (business-to-business) B2B Indian cross-border fund focused on software-as-service (SaaS) companies.
Suvan Ventures, which may be sized between $10 and 15 million, will bet on 20-25 companies.
The venture fund will identify and invest in companies early in their lifecycle and also help in scaling them up by providing mentoring, as well as connections to investors, partners, subject matter experts, system integrators and potential customers, said a statement.
“I've had immense learning from Arka Venture Labs that I would like to incorporate in Suvan Ventures. Specialized funds like Suvan Ventures can play an important role in the journey of Indian B2B cross-border companies. We already have anchor commitments from family offices and marquee angel investors," said Kanumury.
Earlier, Kanumury has been a Founding Member and Managing Partner of the venture fund Arka Venture Labs, till December last year. However, he will continue to lead some of the investments from Arka Venture Labs this year.
He had also worked at IBM for more than 17 years before quitting the company as country lead for IBM Global Entrepreneur Program in 2017.
During his final 3.5 years, he spearheaded IBM India's startup initiative working exclusively with B2B startups, providing mentoring and connections to the right set of people in the ecosystems, enabling them to scale up successfully and rapidly, the statement added.
Launched in 2018, Arka Venture Labs has made 27 investments before the beginning of the year, out of which there are four exits. Arka Venture Labs will continue to back pre-seed and seed-stage entrepreneurs building India US cross-border startups.
