Stellaris Venture Partners to launch $160 mn fund; IFC to invest $25 mn

Stellaris Venture Partners India Trust II is targeting a $160 million fund. World Bank's investment arm International Finance Corporation (IFC) is planning to invest $25 million in the new fund.

The proposed investment by IFC is an equity investment of up to $25 million in Stellaris Venture Partners India Trust II (Fund), a trust domiciled in India, said IFC.

The fund focuses primarily on seed and series A investments in Indian technology-enabled companies and is targeting $160 million in total commitments.

The fund plans to invest in 20-25 companies across healthcare, education, financial services, logistics, consumer internet and enterprise technology sectors.

The fund will be managed by Stellaris Advisors LLP (Stellaris), which was established by Alok Goyal, Ritesh Banglani, and Rahul Chowdhri. Stellaris is a limited liability partnership domiciled in India. Beacon Trusteeship Limited, domiciled in India, is the trustee. It is focused on non-manufacturing early stage technology startups in India.

Investment from a lifecycle investor such as the IFC will position the fund to have better access to co-investment and follow-on capital for its investee companies, which are particularly valuable for early-stage businesses seeking to scale, said IFC.