Clearstone eyes 2 more companies

Early-stage venture fund Clearstone Venture Partners Pvt Ltd, which had announced its first investment in the country recently, has closed in on two more Indian companies for private equity investment.

The $200 million fund, which made $5 million investment in leading payment service provider Billdesk, will announce the two deals in the coming days, Rahul Khanna, director of Clearstone Venture Advisors Pvt Ltd, said.

Clearstone Venture Advisors, located in Mumbai, is Clearstone's independent adviser in India.

Clearstone, which has fully invested its two earlier funds totalling $550 million in 25 to 30 US-based companies, is focusing on high-growth domestic consumption sectors, including telecom, media, entertainment and financial services sectors in India for investments, Khanna said.

Several companies, where Clearstone made investments through the first two funds, have significant back-end operations based out of India. Billdesk was Clearstone's first direct investment in India.

Khanna said the firm targets visionary entrepreneurs requiring help in building globally valuable companies through early-stage funding in the range of $2 to $5 million.

Typically, the fund would invest about 50 per cent of a company's equity, giving enough room for promoters to retain 30 per cent stake in the company.

Similarly, the firm encourages key employees to have 20 per cent stake in the company through employee stock options (ESOPs). "We would like to be the lead investor, owning about 50 per cent in a company," he said.

On the strategy in India, he said, "We know, in India, it takes a long time to create value. Ours is a 10 year fund, three-and-a-half years to invest and the next five years to harvest."

Stating that India was the only country outside the US that the Clearstone Venture is allowed to invest, he said the fund considered India as a "strategic growth opportunity for us".

The investors for the fund include high-profile names, such as Calpers, JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, among others.