The finances will be deployed at an early stage to India-first start-ups, that is, those looking to solve national and local issues
WEH Ventures has launched its second fund with a goal to raise Rs 100 crore, which will be more than double the corpus of its earlier fund. So far, the fund has raised well over half its targeted corpus from reputed family offices, as well as CEOs and CXOs of major corporations in India. The finances will be deployed at an early stage to India-first start-ups, that is, those looking to solve national and local issues.
The fund aims to back about 20 start-ups across multiple follow-up rounds. On average, they will invest up to Rs 3 crore per start-up in the first round, unlike the last time where the size was Rs 1 crore. The second fund has already racked up a few investments including Unbox Robotics, a warehouse automation start-up, a DTC Brand, a community-first app for Bharat, and a gaming studio.
The early-stage investor had completed fundraising for its first vehicle at Rs 40 crore in 2018. Some of the prominent bets from the fund include Pratilipi, SmallcaseTrell, and Animall. In April, Blume Ventures, which has invested in start-ups such as Grey Orange, Unacademy, Dunzo, and Purplle, was reported to be launching its fourth fund. In January, South Korean financial services firm Mirae Asset, which has invested in Indian start-ups such as Bigbasket, Ola, and Zomato, launched an India-focused early-stage fund.
Source: Business World
