Cornerstone Ventures raises $40M as first close for second fund

Cornerstone Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on the SaaS segment, on Wednesday said it raised $40 million as the first close for its $200 million second fund.

According to a statement, the first close saw participation from family offices, high-net-worth individuals (HNIs), and other institutions. Cornerstone Ventures had announced the launch of its second fund in April 2024.

It had launched its first fund worth $50 million in 2019.

"We are even more equipped to help our portfolio companies navigate their growth journeys and unlock meaningful impact across industries," said Abhishek Prasad, Managing Partner of Cornerstone Ventures.

Also Read

Why enterprise SaaS is at the heart of Cornerstone Ventures’ investment strategy

According to the VC fund, it has completed deployments from its first fund, investing in startups, including NRT, Blubirch, Mystifly, and Olive Gaea. It also got exits from Wigzo and Intelligence Node, among others.

The early-stage VC invests around $2-3 million in each startup, and from the second fund, it aims to increase this figure to $5-7 million. The deployment from the second fund is expected to begin this quarter of the year.

Cornerstone Ventures, in the second fund, is targeting a wide array of sectors, including financial services and insurance, retail, consumer goods and ecommerce, distribution and supply chain, and healthcare products and services. Additionally, the fund will support sector-agnostic technology innovations.

It also announced the induction of Suresh Pareek as General Partner. He is the founder of Sukvi Ventures and co-founder of Elephant Canvas LLP—a digital fine art NFT marketplace operating under NewartX.

Pareek said, “At Cornerstone Ventures, I look forward to working with a dynamic team to back ventures that prioritise innovation, resilience, and long-term value creation.”