JSW Ventures to mark first close of its second fund

JSW Ventures, the venture capital arm of Sajjan Jindal‎-led JSW Group, is all set to make the first close of its second fund.

The fund is targeting a corpus of Rs 350 crore ($50 million). “The first close of the second fund will be made around Rs 150-155 crore on February 10, 2020,” Gaurav Sachdeva, managing partner at JSW Ventures said in a blogpost.

JSW Ventures has already started allocating capital from the fund.

The promoter family of JSW Group, led by Parth Jindal, continues to be the fund’s sponsor. LPs (Limited Partners) and investors in the fund include domestic and overseas family offices, professionals, ex-colleagues and friends, said Sachdeva maintaining investors’ anonymity.

The second fund will focus on capital-efficiency. It will invest in software-as-a-service (SaaS) businesses focused on retail, manufacturing, health and marketing technology ventures.

“We are excited about the following trends: in-store analytics, predictive stocking, design-to-manufacturing tech, sustainability compliance, pharma insights, data compliance in marketing, external insights aggregation amongst others,” Sachdeva added.

JSW Ventures’ first fund was launched in 2015 with an initial corpus of Rs 100 crore ($15 million) and focussed on the internet and technology startups. Its investments include interior design solutions company HomeLane, restaurant management startup LimeTray, beauty products marketplace Purplle.com. 

VC fundraising segment in India has been quite active lately. Sequoia Capital India, the storied Menlo Park, California-headquartered venture capital firm’s local investing arm, is reportedly in line to raise its largest country-specific fund yet. The firm is expected to raise a new $1.25 billion fund for India.

New York-based alternative investments firm Tiger Global has also reportedly raised a $3.8 billion global fund, dubbed Private Investment Partners XII. The new fund comes at a time when the New York headquartered firm is on a renewed investment run in the Indian early stage market with a specific focus on B2B startups, apart from select bets in the consumer internet sector.