Nandan Nilekani and Sanjeev Aggarwal's VC firm Fundamentum raises $227 mn

Fundamentum Partnership, a homegrown VC fund co-founded by Infosys' Nandan Nilekani and seasoned entrepreneur Sanjeev Aggarwal, on Friday said it has raised $227 million to launch its second fund to nurture early-growth stage Indian startups.

Fundamentum plans to lead or co-lead a $25-40 million round with investing in four-five startups each year.

"Digital acceleration, brought on by the pandemic, has dramatically increased technology spending across the world. India has all the ingredients in place -- capital, entrepreneurs, stories of success, and liquidity," Nilekani said in a statement.

"In this decade, we will see entrepreneurs making a material impact on the country at scale as the digital intensity of society increases," he added.

Fundamentum said it will focus on tech-driven enterprises in the consumer internet and enterprise software space in India.

The VC firm's first fund was deployed strategically in early growth stage startups, including Pharmeasy and Spinny which have attained Unicorn status.

Post the fund's initial investment, Fundamentum's portfolio companies have collectively raised over $1 billion in follow-on rounds.

"The second fund is significantly oversubscribed. We plan to continue the same strategy as used in Fund I -- investing in tech driven enterprises from India. Entrepreneur quality is the single biggest determinant in the success of a company," said Aggarwal.

"A strengthened team and focus on emerging sectors such as Bharat Apps, SaaS and Cleantech, among others, will enable us to propel growth of our investee firms," he added.

Launched in 2017, Fundamentum's other investments include Fareye, a logistics SaaS start up; Ayu Health, a network of high quality hospitals; and Probo, a technology infrastructure company for events trading.

"We have a healthy pipeline and are seeing over 200 deals a year with an aim to invest in 4-5 startups every year," said Ashish Kumar, Co-founder and General Partner.

--IANS

na/dpb