Sector-agnostic early-stage fund SphitiCap on Tuesday launched its maiden venture fund with an aim to raise a corpus of around $500 million, targeting enterprises focused on sustainability, growth and impact.
The venture fund is expected to be closed soon, according to its company statement.
The maiden fund is likely to raise the initial $125-150 million in this quarter, while the remainder is estimated to be completed in the coming 24-36 months.
The Noida-based early-stage fund, which invests in enterprises from the seed stage to Series A, is currently in the due diligence stage of about 5 startups, with a plan to invest in about 15-20 platforms this quarter, the statement added.
SphitiCap will focus on over 100 startups operating in 10 sectors in India including cleantech, fintech, agritech, proptech, SaaS, defence, among others.
SphitiCap, launched in September by Sphitigram Ventures Pvt. Limited, was founded with Mayank Mehra and Pallav Kumar Singh as managing partners. The VC fund envisions to decentralise enterprise growth to India’s tier II and III cities, as well as at the grassroots.
“With innovative ideas being birthed across the country, especially with tech at the centre, there is a growing need for funds that can enable entrepreneurs from beyond metros. Currently, our portfolio pipeline has funding up to $15 million with no upper limit. There are multiple startups that we are vetting,” said Mehra.
The fund will support its portfolio companies by building an ecosystem and optimizing the return on investment, SphitiCap’s head of growth, Suhana Goel said in the statement.
"A key focus area for the fund would be encouraging growth for promising enterprises in sectors that are often overlooked or undervalued," she added.
With a global shift towards tech-based sustainability solutions, several venture funds have ramped up investment in such sectors, including Ankur Capital, which rolled out a new platform in August. The fund’s platform’ ‘Day Zero’ will invest up to $1 million in early-stage startups focused on agriculture, health, SMB SaaS, fintech, logistics, and mobility sectors, among others.
Besides Ankur Capital, other such VC funds which have raised capital include Infuse Ventures, Acumen, and Blue Ashva Capital.
