India's Anicut Capital hits first close on VC fund
Indian early-stage investor Anicut Capital has achieved a first close of INR 1.1bn (USD 14.2m) on its latest VC fund, which is targeting INR 5bn. It coincides with the nomination of a new partner.
Anicut was founded in 2015 by financial services veterans Ashvin Chadha and IAS Balamurugan (pictured, left to right) as a debt provider for small businesses. It raised two debt funds with LP support from family offices and Small Industries Development Bank of India. The most recent of these closed on INR 4bn in 2018.
The firm set up an angel fund in 2019 to make equity investments of up to INR 50m. It claims to have written first cheques for the likes of financial services start-ups Lendingkart and Five Star Business Finance, as well as beer brand Bira 91, and logistics software provider Loginext. It is also an investor in media unicorn ShareChat.
Anicut Opportunities Fund I, which has a greenshoe option of INR 2.5bn, aims to expand the firm's exposure to the Series A and B space, by backing 10-15 companies. An unspecified portion of the capital has been earmarked for existing portfolio holdings. It brings assets under management to about INR 16bn.
The first close came with confirmation of Dhruv Kapoor's appointment as a partner in charge of the equity portfolio of the fund. Kapoor was previously a partner of Sistema Asia Fund and a vice president of Helion Ventures. He said he was attracted to Anicut’s “founder-first” mentality.
Anicut’s portfolio currently includes 30 start-ups in the debt strategy and 42 in equity. Recent activity includes a seed investment in team management platform HuddleUp alongside Blume Ventures. In January, Anicut backed a USD 10m Series A for direct-to-consumer jewellery start-up Giva and co-led a USD 2.5m round for battery-swapping player Chargeup alongside Capital A.
“Our understanding is that massive compounding of returns is yet to happen and we are sitting on early equity positions with tomorrow's market leaders,” Chadha said in a statement. “We firmly believe that once invested, we prefer to exit along with the founders. Hence the opportunity is right for us to identify tomorrow's market leaders within and outside Anicut’s ecosystem and back their success journey.”
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