Sorin Investments, a new tech-focused fund founded by private equity veteran Sanjay Nayar and Angad Banga of the Hong Kong-based Caravel Group, has raised $100 million, which will be deployed towards series A to C investments.
Speaking to Mint, Nayar and Banga disclosed that the fund would be looking to raise up to $130 million and has started looking at potential investment opportunities already.
The money was raised from a clutch of family investment offices, including a significant personal investment from Nayar and Banga themselves as sponsors.
“We’ve got seven to eight families to invest in the first close of the fund, both local and international, including Henry Kravis and Sunil Munjal,” said Nayar. Kravis is the co-founder of KKR, and Munjal is the chairman of Hero Enterprise.
Nayar, whose experience includes decades in the banking and private equity, said that he did not want to invest as a family office or angel. Opening an institutional investment firm would give them the chance to have a bigger say in the direction of the companies they are looking to partner with.
“Creating a fund structure gives you the flexibility of attracting high-quality capital, not just two or three families. In a fund structure, you can build a really institutionalised professional team and give them significant ownership. We don’t want to be seen as some kind of a small family office,” Nayar explained.
The company will start investments in the range of $2 to $10 million, with the target of a portfolio with around a dozen startups.
