Hissa, an equity management platform operated by RuleZero Technology Solutions Pvt. Ltd, has rolled out its maiden fund with a target corpus of $35 million (Rs 300 crore) to buy stock options from employees working in startups.
The alternative investment fund will focus on secondaries transactions with existing investors, the Bengaluru-based company said in a statement.
Through the Hissa Fund I, the wealth platform will invest in 15-20 growth-stage startups. It has already made its debut investment in Miko, an AI-led robotics company, providing liquidity to 32 employees.
Hissa said that, with Indian startups staying private for 10-12 years on average, employees often find themselves holding valuable but illiquid stock options. The new fund will offer liquidity to employees holding vested stock options in growth-stage startups. This can help them make personal purchases such as buying a home or any other investments, it said.
The fund is managed by RuleZero founders Satish Mugulavalli and Srinivas Katta as well as general partners Srihari Katta and Rithvik Kasireddy, who have previously worked in venture capital, private equity and startup operations.
RuleZero is a legal and fintech company. It was incubated at law firm IndusLaw. The company raised $2.5 million, or about Rs 18 crore, in a seed funding round in May 2021 from investors including Blume Ventures, YourNest and US-based fintech fund The Treasury. Later that year, it raised another Rs 10 crore from Zerodha founders’ Rainmatter Capital and Pratithi Investments, the family office of Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan.