Piyush Gupta, former head of strategic development at Peak XV, Thursday launched an investment firm for secondary growth funding in India and the Southeast Asian region
The firm, Kenro Capital, will target minority stake in growth companies that have achieved revenue scale across various sectors, are profitable/near-profitable, and are well placed for a public listing in 2-3 years post investment, it said in a statement.
Kenro is targeting a ticket size of $20-30 million (Rs 170-250 crore), though it is open to larger amounts through co-investment opportunities.
Kenro Capital’s objective would be to provide liquidity solutions to stakeholders in late-stage, venture-backed companies, playing on its industry knowledge and existing relationships with founders and VC funds.
Gupta brings 17 years of technology investment banking experience at Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank, where he served as Head of Asia for Technology Media and Telecom verticals. Across his career, he has been instrumental in more than 30 IPOs and public market follow-ons, according to the company’s website.
“We are bridging a critical gap in the market to provide liquidity solutions to stakeholders. With impressive growth in venture capital in India and Southeast Asia over the past 15 years, VCs are focused on increasing the pace of distributions to their limited partners and that’s where Kenro Capital will play a key role," says Gupta, who will be designated the founder and managing partner.
He will be joined by Norbert Fernandes, Partner, a private equity professional with over 17 years of investing experience across Temasek, IvyCap Ventures, and TR Capital. With a deep experience in India's secondaries market, he is also the founder-member of the IVCA Secondaries Special Interest Group.
The VC industry in India and South-East Asia has grown from deploying an average of $6 billion a year from 2008 to 2017, to $35 billion a year during 2018-2024, totalling over $260 billion to date, according to data on Kenro’s website.