Early-stage venture capital firm Stellaris Venture Partners, which has invested in startups such as Mamaearth parent Honasa Consumers and Whatfix, has closed its third fund of $300 million.
Over the next three years, the new fund will invest in 25-30 startups in seed or Series A stages in consumer tech, artificial intelligence (AI), software as a service (SaaS), and financial services.
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Stellaris closed its second fund of $225 million in 2021, following its $90-million maiden fund in 2017. It has invested in 44 startups across the first two funds — 19 from the first and 25 from the second.
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With the launch of this new fund, Stellaris has more than $600 million in assets under management. Fund 3 saw repeat investments from existing limited partners as well as new commitments from global investors such as university endowments, foundations, pension funds, and Fund of Funds.
Alok Goyal, partner at the firm, told FE, there has been a 4x growth in deal flow since its funds started operations, with a notable rise in repeat entrepreneurs and founders with prior startup experience.
“The availability of capital has also gone up significantly—from a handful of funds in early stage and limited late-stage capital available, India today has a large number of funds across stages and sectors,” Goyal said. He added that exit markets have also evolved significantly with an increase in the number of IPOs.
“Our first fund has delivered exceptional results and has been a top decile performer in its category globally. Mamaearth, a pioneer company in its sector, went public last year. The fund has already returned about Rs 800 crore from a Rs 25 crore investment and continues to have ownership in the company,” Goyal said.
The second fund has invested in companies such as Turno (EV financing), Kiwi (Credit on UPI), Goodscore(fintech/edtech),
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