Seed-stage focussed venture capital firm Java Capital on Monday launched its first fund with a corpus of Rs 75 crore, with greenshoe option of Rs 25 crore.
The fund has marked the first close at Rs 30 crore, and expects to do a final close in the next 6 months, the firm said in a statement.
The fund will reserve 50% to make follow-on investments into top performing portfolio companies.
Bengaluru-based Java was set up in 2020 by former Kalaari Capital executive and angel investor Vinod Shankar, with Bhargavi V and Karteek Pulapaka. Its investments include startups like Agnikul, KukuFM, BharatX, Better Opinions, Yellow Metal, The Eplane Company, Kindlife, Legistify.
The primary sectors of focus include deep tech, software-as-a-service, fintech, climate tech and consumer internet. With the fund, Java aims to build a portfolio of 15 – 20 startups with an average first cheque size of Rs 2 crore, investing in pre-seed to pre-series A startups
“India is in the midst of a once in a century transformation and this will be underscored by cutting-edge startups. We have a strong record of backing and nurturing visionary founders developing disruptive business models and technology,” said Pulapaka, co-founder and partner, Java Capital.
“We are guided by our values of being transparent with all stakeholders, building long-term and lasting relationships, giving founder friendly terms and promoting win-win outcomes”
Java Capital invests in startups at an idea/prototype stage and actively works with them to achieve Product-Market-Fit stage. It has invested in 23 startups, leading 40% of such investments.
“We are possibly one of the only funds with strong diversity with three full time partners and are led by deep conviction in the companies we invest in. We are not afraid to lead rounds ourselves at this stage, which is again led by our deep conviction and contrarian to most other funds in this market,” said Shankar.
Bhargavi, co-founder and partner, who will be based in Silicon Valley, helping the firm with US market access, said “We work with our ecosystem and partners in the true spirit of long term games with long term people.”