Venture debt firm Stride Ventures, whose portfolio includes Sugar Cosmetics, The Good Glamm Group, Mensa Brands, Zepto and Yubi (CredAvenue), Wednesday said it has marked the final close of its third fund at $165 million (around Rs 1,377 crore).
The final close of the Stride Ventures India Fund III comes within a year of the first close, when the firm had said it was looking to raise nearly $200 million for the third fund.
"The current VC market has been muted. Hence, as fund managers, it was a conscious call to close the fund at a slightly lower amount, ahead of the SEBI timelines to only focus on the best names. We will be coming out with Fund IV next year and are actively looking at global expansion," said Apoorva Sharma, managing partner, Stride Ventures.
The fund has got commitments from a diverse mix of investors, including insurance companies, family offices, corporate treasuries and high net worth individuals. It has already invested in a number of startups including BlueStone, Moneyview, Moove, Foxtale, CureSkin, NewMe, Nat Habit, and AgroStar.
“We are broadening our impact across the Indian startup ecosystem, with financial solutions for working capital, capex, in-organic expansion and growth,” said Sharma.
Stride provides debt to startups in high-growth sectors such as consumer internet, fintech, SaaS, and B2B platforms. It had raised over $200 million for its second venture debt fund. The firm made over 100 investments in startups through its first two funds.
India’s venture debt ecosystem saw a jump in 2023 with nearly $1.2 billion (Rs 9,945 crore) being raised from such deals, a 50% surge from the previous year, according to a report by Stride Ventures.
In volume terms, the report highlighted that approximately 175 companies raised venture debt in 2023 across 300 rounds. Additionally, the venture debt deal space in India demonstrated a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 34% since 2017.
