Falcon Edge Capital, the New York-based global alternative asset manager, has secured $300 million (approximately Rs 2,142.52 crore at current exchange rates) for a new India-focussed venture capital fund, Alpha Wave Incubation (AWI).
Falcon Edge has launched AWI to invest in startups that base their services on the frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, The Economic Times reported.
It is expected to commit between 60-80 companies through its lifecycle. Backing for the fund has come from an undisclosed firm of the Government of Abu Dhabi and other investors from the United Arab Emirates, as per the report.
AWI is a different vehicle from the Falcon Edge India-LP fund, the debut India-focussed fund of Falcon Edge. In January, VCCircle exclusively reported that the fund had marked its final close. The firm has already deployed $100 million via its India Disruption Partners entity.
Founded in 2012 by Richard Gerson, Navroz D Udwadia, and Ryan Khoury, Falcon Edge Capital manages more than $2 billion in assets globally. Companies in its portfolio include Ola, Dailyhunt, Stanza Living and KhataBook.
Meanwhile, Japan’s Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd is in advanced stages of discussions with the Bengaluru and Delaware-based mobility company Drivezy to lead a $35 million (approximately Rs 249.94 crore) funding round in the company, according to an Economic Times report.
Yamaha is in talks to commit capital to the company for its ongoing Series C round through its balance sheet, the report said, citing people aware of the developments. The Japanese two-wheeler manufacturer is an existing investor in the Drivezy Automobiles Pvt. Ltd.-operated Drivezy through Innovation and Mobility Fund, its venture investment arm.
Drivezy was initially seeking to raise $60 million in funding, and had also held discussions with SoftBank, the report said. The company was founded in April 2015 by Ashwarya Singh, Hemant Sah, Vasant Verma, and Amit Sahu, and Abhishek Mahajan.
In 2017, it raised $10 million (Rs 65 crore then) from Das Capital, Axan Ventures, CrowdWorks, and IT-Farm. It has also signed an asset financing deal worth $100 million with Japan’s AnyPay.