India Quotient, the early-stage venture capital fund, has announced that it has raised $64 million as the first close of its fourth fund, primarily from domestic investors which included leading family offices and institutions.
India Quotient had announced the launch of its fourth fund in February this year with a target corpus of $80 million.
A statement from India Quotient said the domestic leg of the fundraising was hugely oversubscribed and it is in discussion with global investors for raising the rest of the money.
Anand Lunia, Founding Partner, India Quotient, said, “Today, Indian families and HNIs are directly engaging with VC firms, a great sign of wealth creation within India in times to come. Hitherto all gains made by startups were going only to overseas investors. Many of our investors have made direct investments in companies like Sharechat, Sugar, Lendingkartetc and we clearly see the increasing sophistication they now have in managing their startup portfolios.”
India Quotient already has funded more than 80 startups over the last eight years, and its third fund had a size of $60 million. This VC firm primarily focuses on startups in the spaces of SaaS, social media, D2C, edtech, and fintech. Among key startups in its portfolio include, ShareChat, Sugar Cosmetics, Lendingkart, PagarBook etc.
Anand said, “We will continue to push the boundaries in early-stage investing and take positions in things that are not waves yet and spaces that are not sectors yet. While everyone has been talking about investing in returning founders, we feel that great innovation sometimes needs freshers, youngsters and first-time entrepreneurs.”
India Quotient typically gives out the first cheque for a startup, backing them with funds from $250,000 to $1.25 million.
India Quotient also inducted Gagan Goyal, an ex-entrepreneur and IIT Bombay alumnus, as a General Partner in the team, along with Anand Lunia and Madhukar Sinha. Prior to joining India Quotient, Gagan had been an active angel investor, having backed nearly 20 startups with five exits to date.
