Chiratae Ventures closes fourth fund, oversubscribed by 25 pc

Chiratae Ventures closed its fourth fund at $337 million, which was oversubscribed by 25 percent, according to a release shared by the firm. The Bengaluru-headquartered venture capital fund was aiming to raise $275 million.

So far, the firm has $950 million worth of asset under management (AUM), which have been invested in more than 100 deals, backing startups including insurance comparison platform PolicyBazaar, which recently filed for an IPO (initial public offering), Walmart-owned Flipkart, baby product platform FirstCry, and Mukesh Bansal-led Cure.Fit.

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Chiratae Ventures, earlier known as IDG Ventures, has been investing since 2006. The firm is currently completing 38 exits, has four unicorns and PolicyBazaar, which is filed for an IPO, and Flipkart, which also reportedly looking to file for one.

“We are pleased to continue to back stellar Indian  entrepreneurs in technology startups assisting them to grow to dominant leaders in  India and globally. It is a testimony to the startup ecosystem in India and high quality tech entrepreneurs. Chiratae has delivered stellar exits including a recent 43x return from PlaySimple,” said Sudhir Sethi, Founder and Chairman, Chiratae Ventures in the release.

Since last year, India has witnessed a major funding boom due to the accelerated growth of internet-led firms. At least 20 startups have acquired the unicorn status so far in 2021, while Zomato's successful IPO has also gotten many in line, including Nykaa and PolicyBazaar. 

Hence, investors are pouring funds across sectors and backing many early-stage ventures as well. Sequoia Capital India, which has backed startups including doctor aggregator platform Practo and logistics firm Blackbuck, closed $195 million in their second seed fund, in March 2021. 

Another marquee investor Lightspeed India Partners, backer of B2B unicorn Udaan and HR-tech platform, closed $275 million to invest in Indian startups last year in August.

“We  are seeing over 3000 new companies every year. This number will increase further as India grows to a $5 trillion economy. Indian insurance companies have also now  backed us which is a game-changer for us,” said TC Meenakshisundaram, Founder and MD, Chiratae Ventures.