Venture debt firm Stride Ventures has announced the close of its second flagship fund at $200 million garnering participation from a cross-section of investors.
Strides Ventures India Fund II saw its first close in August, 2021 and venture debt firm noted that participants include banks, family offices, corporate treasuries, sovereign funds, PE funds, insurance firms and HNIs.
Stride Ventures has disbursed over Rs 1,600 crore in 70 plus companies across consumer, fintech, Agritech, B2B commerce, Healthtech, B2B SaaS, mobility & energy solutions (EV). The fund’s portfolio includes CredAvenue (Yubi), MyGlamm, Zepto, BluSmart, Uni, Upstox, WayCool, MensaBrands, MediBuddy, Wiz Freight, Perfios, Moneyview, VideoVerse, Chalo and Groyyo amongst others.
“The growing investor trust in the Indian start-up ecosystem provided us with a great opportunity to develop a strong pipeline of deployments that we have utilized across various sectors.” Stride Ventures founder & MD Ishpreet Singh Gandhi said, on the closure of the fund.
According to Ishpreet, Stride Ventures has already committed a large portion of the fund in leading startups as its goal is to continue being a preferred lender whilst developing innovative alternate financing solutions for founders.
“The current economic environment has made growing businesses more amenable to debt transactions than ever before, giving India’s venture lending industry a chance to grow and evolve.” said Apoorva Sharma, Partner, Stride Ventures.
The venture debt fund noted that strong investor sentiment has propelled record fundraising in India-focused funds. Stride Ventures follows a joint lending structure with banks to create alternate financing solutions within the framework of venture debt.