Early-stage venture capital firm pi Ventures has marked the second close of its debut fund at $25 million (Rs 160 crore).
The firm said in a statement it raised capital from Hero Enterprise chairman Sunil Kant Munjal, Hero Electronix’s corporate financing arm and Canbank Venture-backed Electronic Development Fund. High net-worth investors also participated.
Munjal has been an active investor in venture capital funds in recent years, apart from directly investing in startups. Last year, he backed Aavishkaar Venture Management’s sixth fund—Aavishkaar Bharat Fund—as well as early-stage venture capital firm Kae Capital's second fund.
Launched in August 2016, pi Ventures’ fund has a target corpus of $30 million. The firm said it expects to make the final close soon, but did not specify a timeline.
It had announced the first close of its fund in March last year at $13 million, with backing from entrepreneurs including Aarin Capital chairman TV Mohandas Pai, Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal, MakeMyTrip’s Deep Kalra and Info Edge’s Sanjeev Bikchandani.
In the same month, it also received backing from International Finance Corporation—the World Bank’s private-sector investment arm—and venture capital firm Accel Partners.
Pi Ventures has invested in four companies so far. These include Internet of Things (IoT)-based energy management startup Zenatix Solutions Pvt. Ltd, wearable medical device startup ten3T and medical technology startup SigTuple Technologies. Its most recent investment was in breast cancer screening startup Niramai Health Analytix.
Last year, a clutch of big and small VC firms including IDG Ventures, Endiya Partners, Stellaris Venture Partners and Fireside Ventures announced milestones in their respective fundraising efforts.
Earlier this month, VCCircle reported that IvyCap Ventures Advisors Pvt. Ltd was about to finish fundraising for its second fund.
