Former Alibaba India head, 9Unicorn partner launch Rs 1,000 cr fund

Former head of investments at Alibaba Group's India business Raghav Bahl and 9Unicorns ex-partner Soham Avlani on Thursday announced the launch of PROMAFT Partners -- a Rs 1,000-crore venture capital fund.

The sector-agnostic fund seeks to invest in companies that have proven exceptional 'product-market-fit'. It plans to make 10-12 investments, with two-three investments in a year.

"Growing without product-market-fit is like driving fast in the wrong direction. And product-market-fit without sustainable competitive advantage doesn't create shareholder value. We encourage our entrepreneurs to grow slowly, while investing in the core fundamentals of the business.

"We plan to make two-three investments per year. We are backed by prudent investors, which gives our entrepreneurs the advantage to build for the long term," Bahl said.

The fund is also backed by Indian family offices and market leaders like Paytm, Zomato, Browserstack, Livspace, PharmEasy, and VideoVerse who will also double-up as mentors for the fund's portfolio companies.

"We believe that this vintage encourages entrepreneurs to develop capital efficient businesses while the absence of large funds has resulted in valuations to sober down. We remain excited about this environment as it provides for a highly attractive 'risk-return profile' for both investors and entrepreneurs," said Avlani.

Both Bahl and Avlani have been involved in investing and managing large portfolios, which includes brands such as Swiggy, Paytm, BigBasket, XpressBees, TaxiForSure, VideoVerse, and PharmEasy. Their portfolio has returned over USD 1 billion in profitable cash exits from India.