Yatra & Quikr backer Norwest raises $1.2B in new global fund

Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), a multi-stage venture and growth equity investment firm that invests in India out of its global fund, has raised $1.2 billion for its latest fund, it said on Wednesday.

The Norwest Venture Partners XIII fund is the same size as the firm's last two funds. The firm had raised its previous fund in May 2014.

The new fund brings NVP's total capital and commitments to more than $6 billion. It closes at a time when 22 of NVP's portfolio companies have experienced liquidity events in the past 18 months.

"With the new fund we'll be able to reach even more entrepreneurs and help them on their paths to building great companies that last," said Pramod Haque, senior managing partner at NVP.

Norwest invests in companies across a wide range of sectors including technology (cloud and IT infrastructure, internet and consumer, SaaS), business services, financial services, consumer, and healthcare. It is stage-agnostic and backs firms from seed and Series A to late-stage venture and growth equity.

The firm is headquartered in Palo Alto, California, and has offices in San Francisco and New York. It has operational footprint in Mumbai and Bengaluru in India, besides Herzelia in Israel.

"We've been operating out of a global fund for a very long time. It has proven to work for our team and our entrepreneurs as our companies participate in a global economy along with broad access to talent and resources," said Mathew Howard, managing partner at NVP.

The firm has invested in about 575 companies since inception, and has almost 130 active companies across its venture and growth equity portfolio.

As many as seven of its portfolio companies launched public offerings in the US, India and Israel, and 15 were acquired. In India, NVP part-exited during the IPO of Sadbhav Infrastructure.

NVP has been an active investor in India and counts Cholamandalam Finance, IndusInd Bank, Manthan, NSE, Quikr, Swiggy, Thyrocare and Yatra among its current portfolio firms.