IFC plans re-up for A91's second India fund
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has proposed a commitment of up to $25 million in the sophomore fund of India’s A91 Partners, which has a target of $500-550 million.
It was reported by local media in August that the fund had closed at $525 million. Speaking to AVCJ at the time, sources close to the situation said this was not the case. They added that the vehicle was substantially oversubscribed, and the hard cap would be increased.
The World Bank-controlled development finance institution contributed $20 million to A91’s debut fund. That vehicle closed at $351 million in mid-2019, a year after the founding team of Gautam Mago, Abhay Pandey, and V.T. Bharadwaj spun out from Sequoia Capital India.
That fundraising process took four months, buoyed by a group of India founders and family offices that contributed about 20% of the corpus before A91 started reaching out to institutional LPs.
The firm approached more than 150 investors and quickly narrowed the list to about 25 serious conversations, which resulted in 15 commitments. Asia Alternatives is among the LPs.
Pandey previously told AVCJ that, when trying to find an anchor LP, suggestions made by industry participants included merging with another VC firm and giving away a significant stake in the GP.
Fund II will back 15-17 companies across the consumer, financial services, healthcare, and technology sectors, according to an IFC disclosure. This remit is much the same as Fund I, which counts the likes of Sugar Cosmetics, financial technology players Aye Finance and Digit Insurance, B9 Beverages, spice maker Pushp, and La Renon Healthcare as portfolio companies.
A91 expected half of Fund I to go into Series B and C rounds for established companies. The rest was earmarked for founders who have not previously received – or even sought – institutional funding. Deal sourcing techniques in this area include cold-calling bootstrapped businesses.
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