Ankur Capital hits intermediate close of second fund

Ankur Capital, an early-stage investor that focuses on technology-driven businesses, has hit an intermediate close of its second fund with Rs 330 crore (around $45.35 million) in commitments. 

The venture firm said it has received commitments from John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation, Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council, and National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (Nabard). 

This development comes after VCCircle reported in January that Mumbai-based Ankur Capital had roped in an American investor as a limited partner (LP) to help increase the number of bets it is making. 

That month, and prior to VCCircle’s report, Ankur Capital said it had hit the first close of Ankur Capital Fund II at Rs 240 crore. 

Entities that it said had come in as LPs included the United Kingdom’s CDC Group, Dutch Good Growth Fund, and state-run Small Industries Development Bank of India. 

Fund II will continue with Ankur Capital’s core strategy. Sectors that it will invest in include health-technology, fintech, edtech, local language technologies, and deeptech. 

The fund will seek to make investments in 16-18 companies, and has already bet on four. It will aim for entry during a firm’s seed round, with investment ticket size ranging between $500,000 and $5 million. 

“Ankur Capital’s focus on transformative technology has the potential to improve economic opportunity for low-income individuals across India,” MacArthur Foundation MD for impact investments Debra Schwartz said. 

Ankur Capital was set up in 2014 by Rema Subramanian and Ritu Verma. Its first fund had invested in 14 companies including Cropin, Niramai, Healthsutra, ERC, and StringBio. In July last year, the firm invested in a healthy snack-focused food manufacturer based out of north India.