9Unicorns, the accelerator fund of Venture Catalysts, has announced the second close of its fund at `200 crore throughout the pandemic on the back of developing interest amongst domestic and worldwide investors to invest in early-stage Indian startups. 9Unicorns has effectively managed its second close inside six months of the very first close at Rs one hundred crore in August final year, signalling a positive sentiment in India’s swiftly evolving startup ecosystem.
The second close witnessed enormous participation from some major worldwide and Indian industrialists and enterprises, like the country’s oldest and major sweets and snacks manufacturer Haldiram’s that has overtaken numerous MNCs like Hindustan Unilever and Nestle in the packaged meals segment.
Touted as India’s Y Combinator, the Mumbai-based accelerator has also raised its total corpus to Rs 500 crore by working out a green-shoe choice amidst a difficult financial atmosphere. A green-shoe choice makes it possible for any venture capital or private equity fund to raise income more than its initial target corpus following enormous interest received from the LPs (restricted partners)/ investors.
9Unicorns is hunting to raise the complete quantity of Rs 500 crore more than the next couple of months from various sources, like corporations, loved ones offices, and institutions globally. The fund plans to create the very first external cheque in more than one hundred early-stage startups in DeepTech, B2B SaaS, Media, FMCG, FinTech, InsureTech, HealthTech, EduTech, Travel, and logistics, amongst other sectors.
On the second close, Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, founder, Venture Catalysts, mentioned, “Last year was indeed a great year for the startup ecosystem that witnessed the creation of 11 Unicorns. As a fund, we aim to back early-stage companies that have the potential to become billion-dollar companies in the future. I anticipate the number of unicorns in India will grow 4x, from 44 today in the next few years that provides several investors with an opportunity to be a supporting agent and ensure multiple X returns from this emerging asset class.”
He added, “We made our second close of another Rs 100 crore just within six months of the first close, a feat difficult to achieve, that too during the pandemic. We will be closing the rest of the fund soon to boost further the entrepreneur network in India, especially those in the non-metros.”