IIMA-CIIE's Infuse Ventures to close fund at Rs 125 crore

It has already received commitments for over Rs 110 crore

Buoyed by growing interest from various investors, the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A)’s Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE)’s Infuse Ventures is eyeing a financial closure at Rs 125 crore soon.

As against the original plan of raising Rs 75 crore, Infuse Ventures - a clean tech focused fund has already received commitments for over Rs 110 crore. Infuse had announced its initial closing in May 2013 with committed support from BP, International Financial Corporation (IFC) and Government of India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and Technology Development Board (TDB). Partners including Godrej Industries, ICICI Bank, SIDBI, Bank of India and Union Bank have joined Infuse ever since.

“The kind of response we are receiving from investors, we hope to close the fund at Rs 125 crore soon. We invest into start-ups at the early seed stage which could be pre-revenue or revenue stage. Infuse offers anywhere between Rs 50 lakh to Rs 6 crore of financial support in multiple tranche,” said Kunal Upadhyay, chief executive of CIIE at IIM-A.  

In the last 10 months, the fund has so far invested around Rs 15 crore in six start-ups including REConnect Energy Solutions, Surya Power Magic, Revive Electronic Waste, Tessol, VisViva and Ecolibrium.

“We are delighted to have complementary and like-minded partners join us in our effort to build a stronger entrepreneurial ecosystem for supporting cleantech entrepreneurs in India. As a partnership between a business incubator, domestic and global corporates, domestic and international financial institutions and Government of India, Infuse is uniquely poised to support aspiring entrepreneurs working towards creating sustainable solutions for Indian problems,” said Ashish Nanda, director of IIM-A.

Talking about BP’s participation in the fund, Sashi Mukundan, Regional President and Country Head, BP India said, “BP is proud to be a founding partner for Infuse Ventures. I congratulate the team on achieving this critical milestone. We are very enthused by this unique combination of industry, government and academia coming together to develop innovative solutions for the clean energy needs of India”.

Infuse supports seed and early stage enterprises developing new business models across the renewable energy, resource efficiency, waste, water and other sustainability-related areas. The investment is spread across a horizon of 5-7 years.

Apart from providing financial support, Infuse has been actively engaging with aspiring entrepreneurs to provide mentoring and networking support. In recent past, Infuse has partnered with Asian Development Bank, IIT Mumbai and TiE Chennai to guide aspiring cleantech entrepreneurs in India.