Prime Venture Partners closes Rs 400-cr fund

Prime Venture Partners (PVP), an early stage fund, today said it has closed its third fund at Rs 400 crore (about USD 60 million), which will be invested across startups working in areas like fintech, health-tech and logistics.
Founded in 2011, PVP had raised its first fund of USD 8 million in 2012, followed by its second fund of USD 46 million in 2015.
"We are very selective and invest in only 3-5 companies per year. We work very closely with the entrepreneurs to support business and product strategy, refining operating metrics, marketing, finance, all the way through raising subsequent capital," PVP Co-Founder and Managing Partner Sanjay Swamy told PTI.

He added that capital from this fund (Fund 3) will be used across 12-15 companies over a period 3-4 years.
Talking about the ecosystem, Swamy said the pace of innovation being seen is phenomenal.
"There was a stage where startups were mushrooming, but building and growing a business takes 7-9 years and that is a lot of hard work. We still see a lot of opportunity across various areas, including the B2B space," he added.

Swamy said most of PVP's portfolio companies are Indian startups but there are several that target international markets like the US and others.
PVP was the first investor in ZipDial, a missed-call based startup that was acquired by Twitter in 2015. It was also an investor in Ezetap, a mobile payments company that has since raised about USD 50 million in follow-on capital.

It has also invested in firms like Happay (business expense management), Moneytap (app-based consumer credit line), NiYO (payroll and benefits management), AffordPlan (healthcare financial services), Tracxn (business research information for private markets) and myGate (gated community security solution).