VC firm Prime announces 4th fund of $100 mn with first close of $75 mn

The firm also expects to focus on new areas such as decentralised finance (DeFi)/crypto, electric vehicle and gaming infrastructure platforms

Venture capital firm Prime Venture Partners has announced its fourth fund of $100 million, with the first close of $75 million. Prime had raised its last fund of $72 million in 2018, the second fund of $46 million in 2015, and a $8 million first fund in 2012.

It will continue to focus on being the first institutional investor, maintaining its high-conviction and deep-support investing model in early-stage technology startups. In addition to existing focus areas of fintech, edtech, healthtech, consumer internet and global SaaS, the firm expects to expand into new areas. These include decentralised finance (DeFi)/crypto, electric vehicle, and gaming infrastructure platforms.

“As India marches towards becoming a top-5 global economy by 2030 and leapfrogs the world through digital leadership, we believe the entrepreneurial ecosystem will drive this change,” said Amit Somani, managing partner, Prime Venture Partners. “Prime has both the conviction and competence in early-stage investing and we aim to back companies that will lead this once-in-a-generation transformation.”

Somani said the firm sees itself continuing to build Prime as the top-choice partner for early-stage entrepreneurs who are building category-defining companies and seek not only financial capital, but also an active investor with deep conviction.

Prime also said that it is actively looking to expand its leadership team by adding a fourth partner.

Amidst the Coronavirud (Covid-19) pandemic, the entire fundraise was done virtually and reflects the continued interest and support that Prime is drawing from institutional investors globally. Fund Four investors include the International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group, a top-tier university endowment, several returning family offices and institutions, and numerous global technology entrepreneurs. The firm said this reflects the team's strong network of relationships across the industry in both the US and South-East Asia.

“We are humbled by the unambiguous support we received from several of our long-time LPs, and the interest by the select new long-term LPs who have joined us,” said Sanjay Swamy, managing partner, Prime Venture Partners. “While the last decade was laying the foundation, the next decade is going to be spectacular as we witness the transformation of India to a digital superpower.”

Founded in 2012 by Shripati Acharya and Sanjay Swamy, Prime added Amit Somani as a partner in 2015. With a view of bringing Silicon Valley style professionalism to venture investing, Prime said its 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. It refines 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,” said Shripati Acharya, managing partner, Prime Venture Partners. “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.”

According to Cambridge Associates benchmarks, all of Prime’s funds are in the top decile of all global VC funds of their respective vintages. Funds I to III are committed across 32 companies spanning sectors such as fintech, healthcare, SaaS, education, and logistics. Most of these companies have gone on to raise strong follow-on rounds of investment from other leading institutional investors in India, Silicon Valley, and Asia.

Most of Prime’s portfolio companies are focused on the booming Digital India opportunity. It also has several companies that target the US, Middle-East, and other international markets, or that initially start in India and expand from India to other geographies.

Some of the notable Prime portfolio companies include the interactive learning startup Quizziz which is used by teachers in 120 countries. It is backed by marquee investors such as Tiger Global and Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang. MyGate provides security software solutions for apartments that are being used across 20,000 societies and in 3.5 million households.

Digital health startup MFine is backed by SBI Holdings (Japan) and Heritas and clocks 12,000 daily consultations with more than 600 hospitals as partners. Remote patient monitoring startup Dozee is transforming the Indian public healthcare infrastructure. Also, neobank NiYO and pay-after placement management program Sunstone Eduversity are some of the other category-creating, high-growth startups in the Prime portfolio.