LC Nueva Investment Partners, a partnership between Lighthouse Canton and Nueva Capital, on Friday said it has secured Rs 224.8 crore or $30 million, marking the first close of its debut venture fund.
LC Nueva Alternative Investment Fund (AIF), which LC Nueva Investment Partners had launched in February, claimed to have received strong support from global investors and single-family offices, as it made the first close in less than two months.
First close is a fundraising milestone for venture capital and private equity firms after which they start deploying capital.
The company said 25% of the capital in the AIF is being contributed by the investment manager and key stakeholders of Lighthouse Canton, and it plans for a final closure towards the end of May this year. The company plans to raise $40 million or Rs 300 crore in total. LC Nueva said it will focus on investing in pre-series A and series A deals in India with the fund.
“India’s private market has been growing exponentially – a robust ecosystem that we are proud to be working closely with our investors and founders alike to mobilize capital for purpose,” said Sumegh Bhatia, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director for LC Capital India, the Indian arm of Lighthouse Canton.
“We have had a strong reception from our global investors for the fund since it was launched in February and we are targeting to raise Rs 300 crore or $40 million in total.
We have partnered with Nueva Capital on this strategy, and the investment team consists of private equity industry veterans Sohil Chand and Ashish Chand. Their in-depth knowledge in both investments and the Indian startup scene is what makes this fund so unique,” Bhatia added.
Sohil Chand is the founding partner and Chief Investment Officer for LC Nueva AIF.
Chand was previously head of India for Norwest Venture Partners, a $10 billion global early to late-stage venture and growth equity investor, and earlier helped set up the private equity business for Goldman Sachs in India.
Chand has deal experience with investments in National Stock Exchange, Thyrocare, Snowman Logistics, IRB Infrastructure, Swiggy, Cremica, OnMobile, among others, the company said.
“We have strong conviction in the startups we are empowering, and hence 25% of LC Nueva AIF’s fund commitment will come directly from the sponsors.
Together with Lighthouse Canton, we are investing in ambitious future winners, scaling the vision of these emerging businesses to shape the future of India’s startup ecosystem,” Chand said.
LC Nueva AIF will invest in 25 – 30 Indian companies at their pre-Series A and Series A stages over the fund’s lifespan of eight years.
The AIF’s investment approach will be sector-agnostic, with a proclivity towards healthtech, consumer-tech, fintech and edtech businesses, the company said. A sizable part of the fund will be reserved to back the “winners” in the subsequent rounds, LC Nueva said.
LC Nueva said in the last decade, internet penetration in India has grown rapidly with the coutry having over 700 million users using the internet and this digital reach has led to the emergence of technologically enabled businesses solving conventional problems in innovative ways.
The Indian startup ecosystem is amongst the top three globally and venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) strategies investing in India have been extremely popular over the past few years, LC Nueva said.
Quoting a recent report by IVCA-EY, the company said that Indian startups received $2.5bn worth of PE/VC funding in February, which was more than double from a year earlier and thus, LC Nueva is betting on the country as it has emerged as one of the most attractive investment opportunities, in the world.
Till date the fund has already invested in 17 companies and deployed Rs 75.75 crore or $10.1 million capital, LC Nueva said. The company’s investments include India’s first pre-owned car leasing subscription service, Pumpumpum; one of India’s fastest-growing diagnostics and precision medicine company, Redcliffe Lifetech; India’s first men focused intimate hygiene company, Svish; and leading SaaS (software-as-a-service) based company for small merchants to setup an online presence, Dukaan, LC Nueva said.
Investee companies are put through a selection process by the investment team, where it analyzes each business, spends time with founders and their management teams to understand their vision and business models, it added.
Leveraging its asset management and wealth management business capabilities, Lighthouse Canton said its founders’ ecosystem provides founders added value through other venture investments, and business solutions as well as personal wealth management services.