KIAL Marks Final Close Of Pre IPO Fund

Kotak Investment Advisors Limited (KIAL), the alternative asset arm of the Kotak Mahindra Group, on Tuesday announced the final close of its pre-IPO fund at ₹2,000 crore. 

The Kotak Pre-IPO Opportunities fund will invest in India focused late-stage new-age businesses with a strong moat of technology, it said. 

“The swift pace of digital adoption by individuals, SMEs or enterprises has opened up the opportunity for the tech eco-system to respond with unique and scalable business models with significant long term growth potential. Kotak Pre-IPO Opportunities Fund enables our investors to participate in this growth story as these companies become part of public markets over time,” Srini Sriniwasan, managing director, Kotak Investment Advisors Limited said. 

The fund, set up as an alternative investment fund, has already made investments worth ₹653 crore in five deals and has another ₹405 crore worth deals in various stages of evaluation and execution, it said. Investments made by the fund so far include API Holdings, the parent company of PharmEasy, Pine Labs, Mobile Premier League, Policy Bazaar parent PB Fintech and Nykaa parent FSN Ecommerce. 

“There has been an abundant supply of technology led companies looking to list in the near term and we have carefully curated a good fund portfolio. We will stick to the discipline of picking the right company at the right price,” Srikanth Subramanian, CEO, Private Wealth – Investment Advisory, Kotak Investment Advisors Ltd. said. 

The investors in the fund include several family offices such as Catamaran, the family office of Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy, and Skywalker, the family office of Rubamin group. The fund plans to target companies across sectors, especially those with a strong technology focus, robust unit economics, scalable business models and exit visibility, it said. 

The focus will be on technology-oriented companies including technology-enabled companies in traditional industries, it added.