India's Prime Venture reaches $75m first close on Fund IV
Prime Venture Partners has reached a first close of $75 million on its fourth India-focused VC fund. The overall target is $100 million.
LPs include the International Finance Corporation (IFC), an unnamed university endowment, technology entrepreneurs, and family offices. Several of the family offices also participated in Fund III, which closed at $72 million in 2018. Prime raised $8 million for its debut fund in 2012 and $46 million for a successor vehicle three years later.
The mandate remains to back early-stage start-ups – typically as the first institutional investor – across financial, education, and healthcare technology, consumer internet, and software-as-a-service (SaaS). New areas of coverage are expected to include decentralized finance, electric vehicles, and gaming infrastructure.
Prime claims that all its previous funds are ranked in the top decile globally for their respective vintages by Cambridge Associates. The firm has backed 32 companies in total, among them interactive learning start-up Quizziz, security software specialist MyGate, digital health platform MFine, remote patient monitoring business Dozee, neobank NiYO, and Sunstone Eduversity.
Founded in 2012 by Shripati Acharya and Sanjay Swamy, Prime added Amit Somani as a partner in 2015. All three are now managing partners. The firm is currently looking to recruit a fourth partner, according to a statement.
"As India marches towards becoming a top-five global economy by 2030 and leapfrogs the world through digital leadership, we believe the entrepreneurial ecosystem will drive this change. Prime has both the conviction and competence in early-stage investing and we aim to back companies that will lead this once-in-a-generation transformation,” said Somani.
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