Exclusive: Meet Draconis, a venture capital firm for sustainability and impact startups

Dushyant Chauhan, an executive at Dubai-headquartered financial services group Royal Vision Group, has launched a multi-stage venture capital firm, Draconis Capital Future Fund (DCFF), focused on India. The firm primarily make growth, sustainability and impact investments, a top company executive told TechCircle.

The firm has raised $100 million as part of the first close of its maiden fund, which is currently in the process of registering with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) as a Category-I alternative investment fund (AIF), managing partner Pallav Kumar Singh said. It is in talks with both domestic and offshore investors to achieve the second close at $300 million, expected in the next 5-6 months, Singh added.

The firm said it has a target to create a $1 billion fund in the next five years.

Chauhan, whose LinkedIn profile lists him as executive chairman at DCFF, is also currently an associate partner at Royal Vision Group. The group operates a hedge fund called Royal Vision Intelligent Fund. He teamed up with Pallav Kumar Singh and Sudhakar Kumar, both managing partners, to create DCFF.  

Singh has been an independent consultant with central government think-tanks, public sector undertakings and other corporate enterprises while Kumar, a former merchant navy officer, has been an entrepreneur in the food-tech, education and entertainment sectors.

Chauhan is responsible for managing the funds’ limited partners (LP) -- there are about 50 at present -- who are spread across the world through 20 global offices. Singh and Kumar are responsible for identifying, mentoring, fund deployment and phase-wise implementation of DCFF’s enterprise pipeline. Nearly 80% of its LPs are overseas, spread across Africa, Middle East, Australia, Singapore, and Europe.

DCFF has been evaluating startups over the past several months and has signed term sheets with seven ventures belonging to the energy, blockchain, healthcare, agri-businesses, and transportation tech sectors, Singh said.

The fund plans to announce at least five investments over the next two weeks.

“We are stage agnostic. We firmly believe in creating value, not valuation. Our focus is innovation and technology. We are looking at companies that can cause huge disruptions with the help of technologies,” he added. “For example, we are looking at startups that can revolutionize supply chain management in agri-tech or startups that can effectively implement AI and ML capabilities in the mobility sectors. Our exposure to non-tech ideas are going to be very minimal.”

DCFF plans to invest the $100 million, over the next one year, across 25-40 startups depending on deal ticket sizes. It plans to stay committed to its portfolio startups for a minimum for 3-5 years and is keen to take part in follow-on investment rounds.

Singh said the fund will invest on the basis of growth, sustainability, and impact. “We define value by creating a mass behavioural change, by creating a decentralised ecosystem, and by applying modern technologies such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, or machine learning in traditionally non-tech fields.  This is our investment philosophy,” he added.