Venture capital firm Lightbox closes 2nd fund at $100 mn

Venture capital (VC) firm Lightbox Ventures has closed its new fund at $100 million (Rs 600 crore). The newly-formed VC firm was initially looking to raise $90 million.

However, it raised the target when it saw good demand from foreign institutional investors, including from endowments and fund of funds. Lightbox said the non-disclosure agreements prevent it from disclosing the identity of these investors.

The second fund known as Lightbox Fund II will deploy the money in just eight technology start-ups. ''We plan to invest a lot more in each company and get operationally engaged with eight boards, instead of say, 20 boards,'' says Prashant Mehta, partner, Lightbox.

The fund will invest in heath care and e-commerce companies that have a strong technology and mobile component. The fund had a first close at $25 million in April and made a debut investment of Rs 12 crore in Embibe.com, an online test preparation portal focusing on engineering entrance exams.

Lightbox was founded by Sandeep Murthy and four others earlier this year when the venture fund acquired six investments made by Sherpalo Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in India namely, Zoomin, PayMate, GreenDust, Kotak Urja, MapmyIndia, and Futurebazaar.com.