Elev8 Venture Partners closes ₹1,400 cr fund despite global VC slowdown

India-focused fund attracts investors from Korea to Hong Kong as venture funding hits multi-year lows

Elev8 Venture Partners closed its inaugural fund at ₹1,400 crore ($160 million), with investors from Korea to Hong Kong backing the India-focused fund, defying a multi-year global venture capital downturn.

 

The fund, supported by Venture Catalysts, attracted sovereign wealth funds, family offices and unicorn founders. The ₹1,400-crore raise positions Elev8 to target Indian startups seeking growth capital.

 

“Despite a challenging global fundraising environment, Elev8 has secured support from institutions, sovereign funds, family offices, and founders who share our conviction in India’s growth story,” said Navin Honagudi, managing partner at Elev8 Venture Partners.

 

“Our focus now is to deploy the remaining capital with discipline and support our portfolio companies on their journey towards IPOs and global leadership.”

 

 

Launched in 2023, Elev8 has already deployed one-third of its corpus into five companies — Astrotalk, IDfy, Smallcase, Porter, and Snapmint — with cheque sizes ranging from $8–14 million. In some of these investments, Elev8 has co-invested alongside its LPs, including family offices and HNIs, further validating the quality of the deals and amplifying Elev8’s cheque size and the overall capital going into its portfolio companies.

 

The remaining two-thirds of the fund will be deployed over the next 12–18 months into high growth businesses that align with Elev8’s rigorous investment framework.

 

Having co-invested alongside marquee venture capital and private equity investors, Elev8’s early results highlight both the quality of its deals and the strength of its approach. All the companies backed by Elev8 are scaling rapidly — growing at more than 30 per cent annually — while remaining profitable.