Inflexor Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm, has marked the first close of a technology-focussed fund at Rs 230 crore ($31.11 million at current exchange rates).
The Inflexor Technology Fund is a Securities and Exchange Board of India-registered alternative investment vehicle and is targeting a full corpus of Rs 500 crore, the VC firm said in a statement.
Inflexor is the second early-stage VC firm to announce a fundraising milestone today. Earlier in the day, StartupXseed Ventures LLP said it has raised Rs 65 crore for its new fund and that it is targeting a corpus of Rs 200 crore. The fund will invest in deep-technology focussed startups, with ticket sizes ranging between Rs 3 crore and Rs 10 crore.
Inflexor also said that investors who committed to its fund include SBICAP Ventures Ltd, a step-down unit of State Bank of India. Other limited partners (LPs) to this fund include Small Industries Development Bank of India’s Fund of Funds for Startups as well as several family offices and high net-worth individuals.
The VC firm said it raised the amount entirely during the Covid-19 pandemic. The fund will be sector-agnostic and invest from the pre-Series A to Series A stages and beyond in startups operating in the business-to-business and enterprise segments.
Initial cheque sizes will range from Rs 5 crore to Rs 7 crore, with potential follow-on funding of Rs 15-20 crore.
“We are seeing increased focus on digitization and technology innovation globally and it’s going to accelerate particularly in India in the current environment,” Inflexor managing partner Jatin Desai said.
“We want to identify the right technology startups at an early stage and help them scale up in India and sell to global markets and, in the process, hopefully make some decent returns for our investors,” he added.
The fund was floated by managing partners Venkat Vallabhaneni and Desai, who co-founded Parampara Capital. Pratip Mazumdar, ex-IDFC executive, is also a partner at Inflexor Ventures.
According to its website, Inflexor’s portfolio includes consumer-technology company Atomberg, cloud-based biometrics firm SecurAX Technologies, augmented reality firm Play Shifu, and customer engagement automation platform Verloop.
