Artha Venture raises Rs 220 crore for second fund, targets B2B, D2C startups

Micro venture capital firm Artha Venture Fund has raised investor commitments worth more than Rs 220 crore ($30 million) for its debut fund, overshooting its target to raise Rs 200 crore. 

More than 50 investors or limited partners (LP) participated in the fund, the firm said in a statement on Friday. Out of the total corpus, over 50% was committed by domestic family offices and by 20 listed companies who participated directly or through promoter entities.  

The remaining capital was pooled by non-resident Indians (NRIs), high net worth individuals (HNIs), super angels, and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), the statement said. 

The debut fund aims to make 10-12 investments per year at the seed, pre-series A, and Series A stages and will allocate over 65% of the corpus for follow-on funding. In terms of target sectors, it will focus on business to business (B2B), business to consumer (B2C), direct to consumer (D2C) startups and D2C enablers. 

The firm started raising the fund in 2018 and marked a second close at Rs 100 crore in 2019. The final close was delayed on account of the coronavirus pandemic, managing partner Anirudh Damani told VCCircle in an interview last year.  

Artha Venture Fund is backed by Singularity Holdings and the family office of former Bombay Stock Exchange director Ashok Kumar Damani.  

Earlier in March, the fund led a seed funding round in recruiting platform GetWork. Its other investments include foodtech startup Daalchini, mobility platform for kids Piggy Ride, peer-to-peer lending platform LenDenClub, mini-cinema chain Jadooz and space-tech startup Agnikul. 

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

Earlier this week, early-stage venture capital fund WEH Ventures launched its second fund with a target to raise Rs 100 crore. Last month, 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.   

Earlier this year, Endiya Partners and Fireside Ventures marked the final close of their new funds. India Quotient launched its fourth fund that seeks to raise $80 million in February.