Azim Premji, Binny Bansal back Alteria Capital’s $140 mn maiden debt fund

Mumbai-based venture debt firm Alteria Capital received commitments worth Rs 960 crore ($140 million) for its maiden fund, marking the final close of the country’s largest independent venture debt fund. 

Investors in the fund, which had targeted to raise Rs 800 crore with a greenshoe option of Rs 200 crore, include the Azim Premji Foundation, Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal, Kiran Reddy, promoter of SPI Cinemas, SIDBI, domestic banks, family offices and development financial institutions, an official statement said.

The investment in Alteria Capital represents the single largest commitment for SIDBI under the Startup Fund of Funds programme of the central government with an allocation of Rs 157.5 crore.

The fund will use the capital to back startups that have already raised venture capital funding and provide them with a range of specialty debt solutions. It will target startups across the early and growth stages with cheque sizes going up to Rs 100 crore, the statement said. 

"Venture debt is now an integral part of funding rounds for startups across stages and sectors,” Murali, co-founder of Alteria Capital, said.  “There is better awareness of how the product can be utilised by startups as well as the expectation on returns for investors into the fund. Since we have the ability to recycle capital, we will end up deploying approximately Rs 1,800 crore from this fund. We are seeing a very strong pipeline of startups across technology, healthcare and consumer segments to absorb the capital over the next couple of years.” 

Murali founded Alteria with Ajay Hattangdi last year. The two earlier led Temasek Holdings owned venture debt firm InnoVen Capital and had pioneered the asset class in India as part of Silicon Valley Bank’s operations here.

Alteria had marked the first close of the fund at Rs 356 crore in March last year followed by the second close at Rs 625 crore in October.

Since the first close, it has already invested Rs 540 crore across 28 transactions in companies such as Faasos, Lendingkart, Zestmoney, Vogo, Toppr, Raw Pressery, Universal Sportsbiz, Dunzo, Stanza Living, Portea, Fingerlix, mfine, Loadshare, Country Delight, Spinny, Limetray and Vinculum. 

Alteria has invested earlier in companies like Byju’s, Swiggy, OYO Rooms, Myntra and Firstcry. The firm also competes with Delhi-based Trifecta Capital.