IvyCap Ventures raises Rs 1,600 crore for record third fund

Representative image.

IvyCap Ventures, an early stage startup investor said on February 23 that it has raised Rs 1,608 crore ($214 million), its largest fund by more than three times, amid an unprecedented startup boom. IvyCap marked its first close of this third fund, and aims to raise upto Rs 2,000-2,500 crore to fully close the fund in the coming months.

Investors in the fund (limited partners) include the State Bank of India (SBI), insurer HDFC Life and soon to be listed Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) along with government departments and family offices. IvyCap’s portfolio includes beauty retailer Purplle, lingerie retailer Clovia, jewellery-maker BlueStone and eatery Biryani By Kilo. IvyCap sold its stake in Purplle for a return of 22 times last year.

IvyCap’s fund size puts it on par with other leading early stage investors such as Stellaris Venture Partners, Blume Ventures, Sixth Sense Ventures and 3one4 Capital.

Founded by Vikram Gupta, IvyCap raised a first Rs 240 crore fund in 2014, followed by a Rs 535 crore second fund in 2020.

From the new fund, IvyCap plans to invest in 20-30 companies in their Series A rounds, with a starting cheque size of Rs 30-40 crore, with about 20% of the fund reserved for further rounds in its second fund’s portfolio.

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“We have proven the model of working through the Alumni ecosystem of the IITs, IIMs and a few other top educational institutions of India. Our passion lies in building the Endowment ecosystems in India. We had conceptualised the Endowment Fund model through integration with an Alumni focused Venture Capital Fund in 2011,” said Vikram Gupta, founder and managing partner at IvyCap.

“Our efforts led to the formation of India’s first Endowment Fund at IIT Delhi that was launched by the Hon. President of India in October 2019. This model was then replicated by IIM Ahmedabad and a few other IITs. Today we see a substantial alumni base of 500,000 from IITs and IIMs working very passionately with us,” he added.

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IvyCap’s significantly larger fund is the latest example of the startup funding boom gripping India and old age financial institutions participating in boom. While the bulk of money for Indian startups comes from abroad, funds recently such as IIFL, Edelweiss, Sixth Sense, Alteria Capital and IvyCap are challenging this norm by raising hundreds of millions individually from Indian investors.