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Early-stage venture capital (VC) firm Gemba Capital marked the initial close of its micro VC fund at $10 Mn, but considering the response the fund has received, the Bengaluru-based VC & private equity firm expects it to close at $13 Mn.

Adith Podhar, founding partner of Gemba Capital, said that the venture capital firm has received overwhelming response from LPs for the fund, launched in 2021. 

“We want to close all the ongoing discussions and we should get oversubscribed and touch Rs. 100 crores,” Podhar added. 

The VC firm intends to utilise half the fund money to invest in seed and pre-seed funding rounds of fintech and SaaS startups. The remaining capital will be earmarked for startups working in Web 3.0, gaming, and deeptech sectors. It also intends to invest in healthcare and the ever-growing B2B ecommerce startups. 

Gemba Capital invests $100K-$250K in the startups initially. It has reserved around 35% of the fund for participating in follow-on rounds in winners from its portfolio of companies. 

The VC firm’s portfolio consists of startups like Plum and Verak (insurtech); Wint, Strata and Grip (alternative investment); Inai, ClickPost, Zuper, Tranzact, Threado (SaaS); Smartstaff, Unnati, Krishikan (marketplace/aggregators).

Gemba Capital recently appointed Anupreet Singh as a partner. The VC firm was founded by former banker Podhar. He had previously also worked with Motilal Oswal and Cipher-Plexus Capital Advisors.

Earlier this week, Inc42 reported that startup incubator Venture Catalysts is in talks to launch a $100 Mn growth stage fund. Venture Catalysts, which has invested in several early-stage startups, now plans to invest in Series A and Series B funding round of startups. 

Earlier this year, Silicon Valley-based Accel raised $650 Mn for its seventh fund, Accel India VII. The fund aims to invest in startups in India and Southeast Asia. Last month, Gurugram-based venture capital firm Elevation Capital launched a $670 Mn Fund VIII. The fund will primarily focus on early-stage and growth-stage startups.