Home-grown venture capital firm Nexus Venture Partners has raised 70% of the targeted $450 million (Rs 3,005 crore) for its new fifth fund, which has the same fundraising aim as its fourth fund, shows a filing with the US market regulator Securities & Exchange Commission.
Nexus, which is known for bets in Snapdeal, Delhivery and ShopClues, has raised $313 million (Rs 2,090 crore) from 29 investors for its new fund so far, going by the filing.
An email to Nexus about the new fund’s strategy did not get an immediate response.
The venture capital firm, founded by Naren Gupta, Suvir Sujan and Sandeep Singhal in 2006, had raised $100 million in its maiden fund in the same year, $220 million in its second fund in 2008, and $270 million in its third fund in 2012.
In 2015, the early-stage investor became the first home-grown venture capital firm to cross $1 billion in assets under management. In the same year, it raised $450 million for its fourth fund, also the largest for the venture capital firm.
Nexus has invested in over 75 startups focusing on consumer retail, business services, healthcare, education as well as enterprise technology, according to its website.
Its recent investments include Pune-based health-tech startup LiveHealth and US-based and India-based developer tools startup Hasura Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
A large part of Nexus’ portfolio comprises of startups based in the US having some Indian presence. The US team is led by co-founder Gupta.
Nexus’ US bets include HyperTrack Inc., a startup that helps businesses track their executives and products in real time; Minio Inc., an open source-based cloud object storage startup; Druva Inc., an enterprise backup solutions provider; and Infoworks.io Inc, a data-warehousing company.
Notably, the US bets have worked as a hedge for Nexus against lack of exits from its India portfolio.
The venture capital firm invests $500,000 to $10 million in early-growth stage companies. It also makes follow-on bets in select companies.
Venture capital fundraising
A number of other venture capital firms such as Sequoia Capital, Matrix Partners, Lightbox and Blume Venture Partners are on the road or set to hit the road for launching new funds.
Meanwhile, a bunch of small-sized to mid-sized venture capital firms hit the fundraising milestone early this year.
Saama Capital raised $100 million (Rs 650 crore) for its new fund, Saama Capital IV, in April.
India Quotient marked the first close of raising money for its third fund at $30 million (Rs 195 crore), Fireside Ventures marked the final close of its debut fund at Rs 340 crore (about $52 million) and Prime Venture Partners announced the close of its third fund at Rs 400 crore (about $60 million) in the first quarter.
