The co-founders of venture capital firm Parampara Capital, which had roped in the private equity arm of IDFC group as its partner for its debut fund, have floated their second fund that seeks to raise $100 million (Rs 710 crore).
The Inflexor Technology Fund plans to raise capital from both domestic and international Limited Partners (LPs), said Inflexor Ventures, the new vehicle which will manage the fund, in a statement.
The new fund is sector-agnostic with a focus on investing in companies leveraging technology IP/innovation across sectors such as health-tech, fintech, consumer tech, cleantech, ed-tech, and agri-tech.
It aims to invest in startups from seed to Series A+ and write initial cheques of $500,000 to $1 million. The cheque size could go up to $2-4 million more with follow-on funding.
The Inflexor Ventures team consists of managing partners Venkat Vallabhaneni and Jatin Desai, who co-founded Parampara Capital. Pratip Mazumdar, ex-IDFC executive, has also joined Inflexor Ventures as a partner.
Parampara Capital had set up its debut fund, Parampara Early Stage Opportunities Fund, in 2015. In 2017, the venture capital firm had roped in IDFC Alternatives, the private equity arm of IDFC group, in the fund. IDFC Alternatives had a strategic commitment to the fund including participation in the fund’s investment committee and advisory board. It had also marked IDFC Alternatives entry into early-stage investing.
Parampara Early Stage Opportunities Fund has invested in more than a dozen startups including in ed-tech startup 3RDFlix, cybersecurity firm CloudSEK and space-tech startup Bellatrix. It has also made two exits, the statement said.
For startups, the new fund is good news amid murmurs of a funding winter because of the economic slowdown.
Last year, venture investments beat the pangs of an economic slowdown led by a welcome uptick in early-stage transactions, but startups continued to struggle for their first funding cheque as angel and seed deals declined.
In 2019, around a dozen venture capital firms that are focused on backing Indian startups marked the final close of their funds. This was in line with what’s been happening over the last few years, but some significant firms helped buoy the total funds raised to around $2 billion, the highest ever, according to a VCCircle analysis.
India-focused venture capital firms which marked the final close last year include Accel, A91 Partners, floated in 2018 by former Sequoia Capital executives and Avataar Venture Partners, floated by former executives at Norwest Venture Partners and Freshworks Inc.
Last month, Info Edge (India) Ltd, which owns and operates portals such as job site Naukri.com, floated a venture capital fund to invest in tech and tech-enabled companies.