Helion co-founder launches India VC fund
Sanjeev Aggarwal (pictured), a co-founder of Indian VC firm Helion Venture Partners, has joined Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani to launch a new VC fund focused on technology start-ups.
The fund, called The Fundamentum Partnership, has an initial target of $100 million but could raise as much as $200 million depending on LP interest.
Speaking to Livemint, Nilekani said the fund had already raised about $50 million, including commitments totaling $30 million from Aggarwal and himself. A number of successful entrepreneurs are among the other LPs and they are expected to provide guidance to portfolio companies.
Fundamentum will focus on start-ups at the Series B and C stage, aiming to help companies scale up to address larger markets as well as provide liquidity opportunities for early-stage investors. The fund will invest $10-25 million at a time in two or three deals per year, seeking exceptional companies that need both financial support and mentoring to reach the next stage of growth.
The GP is targeting companies in the consumer technology, enterprise technology and outsourcing companies serving both the Indian and global markets.
Over the last few years several of Helion’s senior management team have left to launch their own investment firms. Partners Alok Goyal, Rahul Chowdhri and Ritesh Banglani founded Stellaris Venture Partners after leaving Helion in 2015 and recently reached a first close of $50 million on their first fund, Meanwhile, Fireside Ventures, founded as the family office of co-founder Kanwaljit Singh, has been moving toward a fund model, reaching a first close of $28 million on its debut vehicle.
Co-founder Rahul Chandra is also raising his own fund to invest in early-stage financial technology start-ups. The fund, called Unitary Helion, is targeting $100 million to invest in 18-20 companies. Chandra will continue to manage the existing Helion portfolio, as will Aggarwal and fellow Helion co-founder Ashish Gupta. Both are also advisors to Unitary Helion.
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