B Capital Group, backer of startups such as Meesho BlackBuck and Khatabook, on Tuesday said it has closed its first dedicated early-stage fund at $250 million and that it will invest globally with focus on US and Asia, including India.
The “Ascent Fund II” - looking to participate at the pre-seed level through Series A rounds - will invest in startups engaged in digital healthcare, enterprise software, fintech and logistics sectors besides other growing industries, a statement said.
Founded by Raj Ganguly and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin in 2014, B Capital primarily focused on growth stage investments and with the Ascent Fund it aims to sharpen its focus on early-stage deals.
The statement said that the founding Ascent team member includes partner Karan Mohla, who was roped in from Indian venture capital firm Chiratae Ventures just earlier this year to focus on identifying innovative early-stage firms in India and Southeast Asia.
In an interaction with VCCircle earlier this month, Mohla said that B Capital expects software-as-a-service (SaaS), healthcare and business-to-business (B2B) platforms to comprise 60% of its investments at the early-stage level in India and Southeast Asia. Fintech firms and enablers in the B2B space will make up the rest.
Mohla also said that B Capital is also spending a lot of time understanding emerging themes like web3 and cryptocurrency. He acknowledged that while decentralized finance, or DeFi, has had its heavy share of volatility in the past weeks, building that decentralized financial structure is important.
He had also said that there is no specific country allocation of B Capital's funds and investments will depend on opportunities.
In India, B Capital last month co-led a growth investment in insights-led customer engagement SaaS platform MoEngage. Its other earlier investments in India include B2B tech-enabled logistics startup BlackBuck and B2B packaging materials marketplace Bizongo. It is also an investor in Byju’s.
B Capital’s latest fund comes at a time when investors have also turned more cautious in light of the worsening macro-economic environment globally.
However, that has not stopped venture capital funds from closing new funds. Last week, Lightspeed said it had raised $7 billion globally, with around $500 million earmarked for early-stage India and South East Asia investments.
Last month, Sequoia Capital said it had raised $2.85 billion across a two funds to invest in Southeast Asia and India.
In March, Accel India raised $650 million for its seventh fund. Elevation Capital (formerly SAIF Partners) also raised $670 million for its fifth India-focused vehicle in April.
