Early-stage venture capital firm YourNest has doubled down on most of its portfolio companies in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic and is set to strike new deals as part of its recently launched fast-track funding programme called SOAR.
YourNest managing director Sunil Goyal told VCCircle that most of its portfolio companies have cash to sustain themselves for 12 to 24 months and none of them is “going down” in the next one year thanks to the sufficient dry powder it has in its kitty.
The VC firm, which is investing out of its second fund, had received most commitments for the new vehicle by December last year and its focus is now to deploy the capital. Goyal, however, declined to give a timeline for the final close of the $45-million fund. The second fund has invested in seven companies so far. These include ed-tech startup 3RDFlix Visual Effects Pvt. Ltd and networking platform Lavelle Networks.
Goyal said that SOAR is part of its second fund and it will look to particularly invest in startups that are intellectual property-driven, have the potential to go global and are in the deep-technology domain.
SOAR will also consider investing in a startup with a minimum viable product, although YourNest as a venture capital firm typically does not.
Goyal also talked about exits, layoffs during the coronavirus crisis and what the post-pandemic world will possibly look like.