Early-stage micro venture capital firm Fluid Ventures on Thursday said it has marked the first close of its debut fund that seeks to invest in direct to consumer (D2C) brands.
The first close of the fund was made at Rs 25 crore ($3.43 million), said Fluid Ventures in a statement. The fund, which is registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) as a Category I fund, has a target corpus of Rs 80 crore ($10.9 million).
Under SEBI's alternative investment fund (AIF) regulations, Category I refers to social impact funds, venture capital funds and infrastructure funds.
The fund aims to invest in 15-18 startups in the food and beverages, beauty, personal care, lifestyle, and home products segments. It will invest in seed, pre-Series A and Series A rounds with a cheque size of up to Rs 4 crore. It also aims to do follow-on rounds.
Currently, India has one D2C unicorn startup, while there are 20 such startups in the world right now, noted Dhianu Das, general partner, Fluid Ventures.
"With this initiative, we hope to open the playing field for more such success stories and encourage large investors to back startups the way they do so in the equity market," he added.
Fluid Ventures' general partners -- Das and Amit Singal -- have invested in startups such as PeeSafe, Junio, eBikeGo, Chqbook, Neeman Shoes, Akiva Superfoods, Power Gummies, and Vanity Wagon. They have also exited from startups such as Burger Singh, Carmesi, Infeedo, GoMechanic and ClearDekho.
Its members in the advisory board include Manish Aggarwal, co-founder for Startup Buddy; and Prashant Narang, co-founder of Agility Ventures.
This year has seen several venture capital firms announce fundraising milestones and float new funds.
Earlier this month, Artha Venture Fund marked the final close of its debut fund while WEH Ventures launched its second fund with a target to raise Rs 100 crore.
Last month, Blume Ventures, which has invested in startups such as Unacademy, Grey Orange, Dunzo and Purplle, was reported to be launching its fourth fund. In January, South Korean financial services firm Mirae Asset, which has invested in Indian startups such as Ola, Zomato and Bigbasket, launched an India-focused early-stage fund.
In April, BLinC Invest marked the first close of a new fund that seeks to raise a total of Rs 100 crore ($13.5 million).
Earlier this year, Endiya Partners and Fireside Ventures marked the final close of their new funds. India Quotient launched its fourth fund that seeks to raise $80 million in February.
