WestBridge raises further $325m for India fund

"The additional funds were raised entirely from our existing investor base of primarily university endowments and foundations," Sumir Chadha, the firm's co-founder and managing director, told The Times of India. "Many of these investors have been with us for over a decade at WestBridge and Sequoia. We are very pleased to receive such strong investor support in an environment where it is extremely difficult to raise capital for India funds."

WestBridge was founded in 2000, raised two funds and then merged with Sequoia Capital. The founders went independent again in early 2011 and re-launched the original franchise. The WestBridge Crossover Fund reached an initial close of $525 million in August of that year, after less than six months in the market.

The GP now has approximately $1.2 billion in assets under management through the current fund and two earlier vehicles, WestBridge Ventures I and II, which closed at $140 million and $200 million, respectively, in 2000 and 2005.

Chadha added that WestBridge has deployed $740 million across 20 investments, including Kajaria Ceramics, SKS Microfinance, Havells India, Cognizant and Astral Polytechnik.

The only private investment is Dr. Lal Pathlabs, a diagnostics and pathology services provider that received $44 million from WestBridge and TA Associates. This took out the approximately one third stake in the company held by WestBridge Venture Fund I.

Last week WestBridge acquired a 24.9% interest in DFM Foods, a leading listed Indian snack foods manufacturer best known for Crax Corn Rings, for INR645 million ($10.3 million).

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• Topics
• Fundraising
• South Asia
• PIPEs
• Fundraising
• India
• WestBridge Capital Partners
• PIPE