Chiratae Ventures Growth Fund -I announces its first close at Rs 759 crore

The fund is targeting to invest across 15-20 companies raising Series C and beyond rounds

Chiratae Ventures, a leading early-stage technology-focused venture capital fund, has announced the first close of its fundraising, which will be dedicated solely to the growth-stage portfolio. The Chiratae Ventures Growth Fund - I (CGF - I) has been oversubscribed at Rs 759 crore. Chiratae plans to do the final close of the fund by December 2022. 

Chiratae Growth Fund -I will invest in the growth rounds of leading technology startups from its portfolio and outside. It will be a sector-agnostic fund to support the growth and expansion of tech companies. The fund is targeting to invest across 15-20 companies. It would mainly focus on startups raising Series C stage funding round in the range of $5 million to $20 million.

“This is one of the fastest fundraise we have seen,” said TC Meenakshi Sundaram, Founder and Vice-Chairman of Chiratae Ventures, which started its fundraising 3-4 four months ago.  “We are oversubscribed and are looking to close this by the end of the year.”

This is the first growth fund raised by Chiratae Ventures. The fund counts domestic institutional investors such as Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan's Family Office, Choksi Family Office (promoters of Asian Paints), SBI and IIFL Wealth & Asset Management and other Family Offices, as well as existing global investors and key LPs.

“I am glad that Chiratae has achieved its fastest fund closure of Chiratae Growth Fund 1,” said  Kris Gopalakrishnan, Member, Global Advisory Board, Chiratae Ventures. “This is on the back of a decade-plus long history of stellar returns, high governance, firm institutionalization, backing unicorns with capital from Indian as well as global investors repeatedly.”

Chiratae Ventures has raised five early-stage funds and manages  $1.1 billion in assets under management (AUM). It has been an early backer of technology-led companies such as Bizongo, Curefit, Firstcry, Lenskart, Myntra and PolicyBazaar.

Chiratae closed its fourth fund, oversubscribed at $337 million in 2021. The team has delivered value for its investors through the years with over 45 exits, 3 IPOs and 8 unicorns.

Regarding the impact of the uncertain macroeconomic environment and funding winter on tech firms and startups, Sundaram said that there is a correction going on in the metrics related to funding and valuations. “There was a time when people would have got funded based only on growth at all cost," said Sundaram. “Now it is profitable growth and every additional unit of revenue should reduce losses and then turn profitable.”

Recently, Fireside Ventures, another early-stage venture fund investing in digital-first consumer brands, said that it has closed its third fund at Rs 1,830 crore ( $225 million). This is double the size of its previous fund which had a corpus of Rs 863 crore, and the first fund had a corpus of Rs 350 crore. Fireside Fund III is anchored by new and existing Indian and global investors which includes, Self-Reliant India Fund, Investment Corporation of Dubai, SBI, Premji Invest, Waterfield - Fund of Funds, ITC Limited, Emami Limited, Sharrp Ventures and several start-up founders.