Roots Ventures on track for Rs 200-cr maiden fund, gets Paytm founder as anchor investor

Alternative asset manager Roots Ventures Wednesday said it is on track to close its Rs 200-crore maiden fund that will invest in early-stage and growth-stage companies in India.

Besides, the fund also has a Rs 100-crore green shoe option that will allow it to raise additional capital if the fund is fully subscribed.

"We have already raised Rs 100 crore. We are in advance discussions with two fund of funds and a few family offices and expect to close the Rs 200-crore fund over the next 2-3 months. Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma is one of the anchor investors in our maiden fund," Roots Ventures founder Japan Vyas told PTI.

The fund also counts Pravin Gandhi (Seedfund), Sandeep Kohli (ex-CEO of Yum International for the Indian subcontinent) and Kushal and Chaitanya Desai (Apar Industries) as other key investors, he added.

Vyas said the anchor investors and partners have contributed 20 per cent to the targeted fund corpus.

"We are a category-2 AIF (alternative investment fund). We will invest in early stage, growth and small, mid-listed investments... While we are sector-agnostic, we will have a bias towards consumer and consumer tech companies in our early-stage bucket." he said.

Vyas added that the fund will invest up to Rs 6 crore in early-stage ventures, while growth-stage entities will get investments up to Rs 25 crore.

Roots Ventures has already closed six investments ranging across consumer products, consumer tech and fintech and is in the process of closing two more investments in the mobility and consumer space.

Vyas had previously set up and was heading the alternative platform of IDFC Investment Advisors and then co-founded Sixth Sense Ventures. Interestingly, Vyas had picked up Paytm to invest in through his first fund at IDFC.

"Japan is one of the few investors I know who have had a successful track record for more than a decade picking winners across his funds and business cycles. He is also one of the early shareholders in Paytm when he invested in us from his first fund at IDFC. I am happy to be an investor in his alternative investing platform," Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma said.