Prime Venture Partners, an India-based early-stage venture capital fund, announced raising $75 million so far for its $100-million fourth VC vehicle.
Fund IV will continue to invest in early-stage technology startups as with its predecessor funds. Fund III closed at $72 million in 2018 while the second fund raised $46 million in 2015. The first fund hit $8 million in 2012.
In addition to existing focus areas such as fintech, edtech, healthtech, consumer internet, and global SaaS, the firm expects to expand into new areas, notably decentralised finance (DeFi) / crypto, electric vehicle, and gaming infrastructure platforms.
Prime Venture Partners said Fund IV’s investors include the International Finance Corporation, a top-tier university endowment, several returning family offices and institutions, and numerous global technology entrepreneurs.
Founded in 2012 by Shripati Acharya and Sanjay Swamy, Prime Venture added Amit Somani as a partner in 2015. With a view of bringing Silicon Valley-style professionalism to venture investing, Prime’s mission is to partner early with entrepreneurs and help build world-class technology companies that are addressing some of India’s most important problems.
Prime is typically the first institutional investor and focuses on companies with an innovative approach to solving fundamental problems through technology.
The firm follows a model of being highly selective and invests in only 5-6 companies a year, after building deep conviction in entrepreneurs and their startups through a rapid yet thorough diligence process. A common theme among Prime portfolio companies is strong product and technology teams with unique insights and an ability to iterate rapidly.
Portfolio companies work closely with all partners during the formative phase of the business, collaborating through the Product-Market Fit phase and establish early growth.
The firm actively supports entrepreneurs with business and product strategy, refining operating metrics, hiring, partnerships, marketing, finance, all the way through raising subsequent capital.
“We have had the privilege of partnering with many of the category defining companies in India from their early stages such as Quizizz, MFine, MyGate, NiYO, KredX, and WheelsEye. We couldn’t be more optimistic about the depth of the entrepreneurial talent and the level of ambition among the founders in India, as they bring disruptive innovation, not only in India but to the world,” said Shripati Acharya, managing partner at the firm. – AsiaPEVCnews.com
