SRI Capital, the early-stage venture capital firm that invests in startups mostly based in India and the US, has so far raised $45.2 million for its maiden $100-million tech-focused VC fund, according to its SEC filing.
The fund will typically invest $1 million to $3 million in a startup, with the potential to invest in future rounds to support the growth of the company. It expects to complete six to eight investments annually, the firm said in a statement during the launch of the fund last year.
SRI Capital Fund I LP is anchored by a $20-million commitment from the family office of Sashi Reddi, managing partner with SRI. It is raising capital primarily from investors in the US and Europe.
“There is a funding gap for Indian startups targeting US enterprise customers,” Reddi said. “While Indian VCs have struggled to support these US-focused startups, US VCs typically do not understand India-based tech teams. SRI Capital will fill this gap.”
In its filing, SRI Capital said the fund has so far received commitments from 16 investors that each brought in at least $2 million, the minimum investment that the firm accepts.
SRI has backed over 15 startups over the last five years, including ThinCI, a chip company for autonomous driving that recently raised over $20 million from Japanese auto supplier Denso and a clutch of high profile industry veterans; and PhenomPeople, a new age recruitment SaaS offering, leveraging social media and machine learning that recently raised $22 million from multiple investors, including Sierra Ventures and AXA Ventures.
SRI Capital joins a number of firms that have raised funds so far this year. Among them, Global private equity firm Advent International, which has closed its ninth vehicle, GPE IX, at the hard cap of $17.5 billion, surpassing its initial target of $16 billion after six months in the market.
EV Growth Fund, a joint venture between Sinar Mas, East Ventures and Yahoo! Japan, also made a final close at $200 million in May, exceeding its $150-million target. The fund secured commitments from investors including SoftBank Group Corp, Pavilion Capital and Indies Capital.
Panacea Venture, a venture capital firm backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) China partners James Huang and Hai Mai, has hit the final close of its new healthcare fund in an oversubscribed fundraise at $180.5 million, according to a statement.
Vivo Capital, which invests in healthcare companies across the US and Greater China, has amassed $1.28 billion for its ninth private equity fund from 36 investors, according to its latest regulatory filing. The US-headquartered firm did not list the target for Vivo Capital Fund IX, which it started to raise in August 2018 and had secured nearly $864 million for in January this year.
Hong Kong-based private equity firm PAG is also set to make a final close at $2.25 billion for its Asia-focused core-plus real estate vehicle PAG Real Estate Partners II within the next two months.
