Kettleborough VC launches Rs 80 Cr fund II

Kettleborough VC, an early-stage venture capital firm, has unveiled its second fund—Fund II—with a target size of Rs 80 crore. The firm has already secured Rs 35 crore in its first close.

Established in 2021 by Nisarg Shah, Kettleborough VC aims to back around 10 startups with initial investments ranging from $300,000 to $500,000. The fund will focus on sectors such as financial services and software. The first close attracted capital from family offices and entrepreneurs based in both India and the US. The firm stated that it is on track to finalize its first few investments in the coming weeks.

The VC firm’s investment focus will center on startups in sectors such as NBFCs, insurance, fintech infrastructure, B2B commerce, B2C consumer brands, vertical SaaS, and agentic AI-driven platforms. According to a statement from the firm, there will be a strong preference for “dhandha first” businesses.

“We are extremely disciplined about backing execution journeys only, wherein we invest only in founders for whom the venture is the natural culmination of a decade or more of expertise in a specific domain,” said Nisarg Shah, Founder & General Partner, Kettleborough VC, on the launch of Fund II.

Kettleborough VC had raised approximately $5 million for its first fund, through which it invested in 12 startups, including Zippmat, InPrime, Finhaat, Elivaas, Sumosave, and Gravity, among others. The VC firm expects to complete the deployment of Fund I within this quarter and anticipates its first set of exits in the next few quarters.

According to the firm's statement, several portfolio companies have gone on to secure follow-on funding from prominent venture capital firms such as Z47, Omnivore, Lightspeed, 3one4 Capital, and Bessemer.

This VC firm operates on the thesis of founder-led businesses that are execution driven and have the experience of the category that they are into.

According to Shah, the startups backed through Fund I have demonstrated strong performance, growing approximately 2X over the span of just three years.