Early-stage VC firm Multiply Ventures raises Rs 260 crore in its maiden fund

Multiply Ventures, an early-stage venture capital (VC) firm founded by former startup executives, has raised Rs 260 crore ($33 million) in its maiden fund, it said in a statement on June 14.

The fund by Multiply Ventures will be a thesis-driven, domestic fund that specialises in investments in consumer tech, the company said, adding that it raised a little more than its initial target corpus of Rs 250 crore. Multiply Ventures will focus on early-stage startups across four core sectors--fintech, edtech, retail and healthtech.

“We are thesis-driven in our investment and the broad thesis is that India will see the emergence of trusted brands that will improve access to quality education, transparent financial services, affordable healthcare and authentic retail experiences,” said Sanjay Ramakrishnan, Partner at Multiply Ventures.

“Technology will be a unifying catalyst across all sectors. We have a sub-thesis for each of the four sectors. The thesis is our governing framework and keeps evolving,” Ramakrishnan added.

Founded by former Myntra, Flipkart, and Paytm executives--Raveen Sastry, Sanjay Ramakrishnan and Bhushan Patil--Multiply Ventures said it had received the Securities and Exchange Board of India's approval to launch the fund in 2020.

The three partners have built a portfolio of 30 companies as angels before embarking on launching a structured fund, the VC said. Multiply Ventures has backed some unicorns such as Open Financial and DealShare along with other startups including Gramophone, ShopKirana, Madstreet Den, and Skill Lync.

Multiply Ventures said that most of the investors in its maiden fund are Indian family offices and digital-first entrepreneurs. About 95 percent of the investors are from India, the VC said.

Multiply Venture has invested in 15 companies to date and plans to invest in eight to 10 more startups in the next 12 months, the VC said. Some of the portfolio companies include Nova Benefits, upswing, Freed, Bharat X in fintech, Nutty Yogi, Iluvia, in the consumer space, Jovian, and clever Harvey in edtech, and OneCare and Being in Health.

“We are on our path to setting up an operational VC firm, joining hands with startups as extended partners, which is essential for the Indian ecosystem. While the digital ecosystem has evolved locally, many innovations across sectors will come from early-stage startups which will need support beyond the capital,” said Bhushan Patil, Partner at Multiply Ventures.

“The right selection, getting in early, and building for larger consumer segments have proven to get the best impact and investment returns for us and we will continue to build on this,” Patil added.

Multiply Ventures will invest at very early stages, and the VC aims to be the first institutional investor for startups in most cases. Multiple Ventures said it will also look to lead funding rounds. The VC said its average cheque size is typically Rs 4 crore and it will also look to invest up to Rs 20 crore in Series A rounds.

Multiply Ventures' final close of its first fund comes at a time when early-stage funding in the Indian tech startup ecosystem fell to a 12-month low in May. Moreover, late-stage funding also dropped below $1 billion for the first time in the past one year, suggesting a worsening funding winter for India's startups, Moneycontrol had reported.