Pratilipi, Trell backer WEH Ventures launches sector agnostic second vehicle

Early stage venture capital fund WEH Ventures has launched its second fund with a target to raise Rs 100 crore, more than the double the corpus of its previous fund.  

The sector agnostic vehicle will invest primarily in startups seeking to solve India-first problems at an early stage. The fund has so far raised well over half its targeted corpus from CEOs and CXOs of major corporations in India and reputed family offices, WEH Ventures said in a statement. 

The fund aims to back 18-20 startups over multiple follow-on rounds. It will typically invest upto Rs 3 crore in a startup in the first round, unlike the last time where the average ticket size was Rs 1 crore.  

“Spurred by the phenomenal success of our first fund,  investors have reiterated their faith in us and we hope to continue to deliver compelling returns for them over a long period of time,” Deepak Gupta, founding partner, and Rohit Krishna, general partner, at WEH Venture said in the statement. 

The second fund has already racked up a few investments including Unbox Robotics, a warehouse automation startup, a DTC Brand, a community-first app for Bharat and a gaming studio.  

The early stage investor had completed fundraising for its first vehicle at Rs 40 crore in 2018. Some of the prominent bets from the fund included Smallcase, Pratilipi, Trell and Animall.   

This year has seen several venture capital firms announce fundraising milestones and float new funds.   

In April, Blume Ventures, which has invested in startups such as Unacademy, Grey Orange, Dunzo and Purplle, was reported to be launching its fourth fund.  In January, South Korean financial services firm Mirae Asset, which has invested in Indian startups such as Ola, Zomato and Bigbasket, launched an India-focused early-stage fund.   

Endiya Partners and Fireside Ventures recently marked the final close of their new funds. India Quotient recently launched its fourth fund that seeks to raise $80 million.