Venture debt firm ValuAble Partners, which was set up last year by Axis Bank’s former head for financial sponsors coverage, Rahul Gupta and Stride Ventures’ chief financial officer Siba Panda, has marked the first close of its maiden venture debt fund, VCCircle has learnt.
ValuAble, which is currently raising Rs 850 crore (around $101 million) for its maiden outing, has raised around $25 million for hitting the milestone, a person aware of the details told VCCircle.
Gupta confirmed the development as well but didn’t share more details about the fund's first close.
“We remain focussed on deployment strategy, with targets operating in areas of climate, inclusion and ‘Bharat’. ValuAble remains committed to mainstreaming inclusion and at same time deliver ALPHA to the investors through our unique bank partnership,” Gupta added. It has partnerships with IDFC Bank, StockHolding, KFinTech, Rasta, Catalyst and EY.
ValuAble plans to invest in companies in the pre-Series A and Series A funding stages, with investment in the range of $2.5-4 million per company. It invests in focus areas such as healthcare, fintech, agritech, edtech and greentech.
The fund aims to invest in 40-50 businesses, prioritising those that adhere to ESG (environmental, social, and governance) principles while steering clear of "sin sectors" such as alcohol, gambling and tobacco. It invests in startups that are aligned with UN Sustainability Development Goals (SDG). It will also prioritise its investments to help break barriers for the diversity groups and/or led by the diversity groups.
To strengthen its team, ValuAble appointed Ajay Mittal earlier this year, the former partner at Indian private equity firm Ascent Capital, as general partner and investment manager of the investment firm. Mittal has nearly three decades of experience and he is currently responsible for identifying the startups to back as a part of ValuAble’s team.
Online news platform Deal Street Asia first reported the development of ValuAble’s first close.