Nurturing ideas to excel in the era of growth Founded in 2011, IvyCap Ventures is one of India's leading homegrown venture capital funds leveraging alumni ecosystems of the leading educational institutes to power the Indian start-up ecosystem and build market leaders.
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Founded in 2011, IvyCap Ventures is one of India's leading homegrown venture capital funds leveraging alumni ecosystems of the leading educational institutes to power the Indian start-up ecosystem and build market leaders.
Vikram Gupta, Founder and Managing Partner said that recently, the firm announced the closure of its Fund III at INR 2100 Crores. "The Fund's investors include the leading Indian institutions, the IIT Alumni Trust, and a few family offices. Close to 60% of the Funds have come from the existing investors of IvyCap Ventures in Funds 1 and 2," explains Vikram.
"Further, as a homegrown VC fund, it is proud to have IIT alumni as anchor investors and more than 25 institutional investors investing across the funds. The firm takes pride in successfully creating India's first Endowment Fund at IIT Delhi which was launched by the Hon. President of India back in Oct 2019 and is the only VC fund where a significant part of the Fund Manager's profits goes back as an Endowment to the IITs and IIMs."
IvyCap describes itself as a sector-agnostic fund, focusing on early-stage companies with differentiated business models and robust unit economics.
"We target startups in the early to growth stages that are developing innovative technology-based products, services, and business solutions capable of scaling and competing in a competitive market," says Vikram.
According to Vikram, the firm leverages the global IIT alumni ecosystem and its investment philosophy centers on identifying and nurturing innovative ideas and startups poised to excel in an era of exponential growth.
"We aim to invest in capital-efficient enterprises capable of scaling with minimal capital infusion. Additionally, we place significant emphasis on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and corporate governance in our investment approach."
Vikram sees promise in the fundraising for the rest of the year with significant opportunities emerging across various sectors such as Healthtech, Generative AI, Fintech, B2B SaaS, and select consumer-focused startups at the Series A stage.
He opines that there will also be opportunities to explore late-stage funding within the consumer sector. "Additionally, a considerable number of companies are gearing up for IPOs, currently engaged in filing their Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP). An anticipated increase in the ratio of companies moving from filing to successfully executing IPOs will reflect a robust environment for fundraising, both in terms of quantity and quality," Vikram adds.
Notably, IvyCap has helped some impressive startups scale to the next level. Purplle, the firm portfolio's first dragon helped the firm grow its initial investment of US$2 million to US$45 million, a 22x return. Other examples include Clovia, Phramarack, and BlueStone which is now preparing for its IPO.
"Additionally, we have had other notable exits, including the acquisition of Sokrati by Dentsu International and the acquisition of Aujas by NSEIT, among others," concludes Vikram.
