Lighthouse to raise $45 Mn from IFC for third PE fund

Mumbai-based private equity firm Lighthouse has received a commitment of $45 million from the IFC (International Finance Corporation) and its asset management arm for its third private equity fund.

IFC is planning to invest $20 million, while the asset management arm of IFC is also considering a parallel investment of $25 million in the fund, reported ET.

The PE firm is seeking to raise $200 million in capital commitments for its third fund, Lighthouse India Fund III Ltd. It recently reached the preliminary first close of its third India-focused fund at $80 million.

During the last fundraising it was reported that under the third fund, Lighthouse plans to raise $50 million by the end of this year and the remaining amount by the first half of 2018.

Set up by Mukund Krishnaswami and Sean Novak, Lighthouse has raised two funds of $100 million and $135 million in 2009 and 2015, respectively. The PE firm has so far made 20 investments, of which, 11 were made from the first fund and nine from the second fund.

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“Our typical cheque size in Fund II has been between $10-15 million, and when I look forward to our Fund III, the investments could be between $10-20 million, we could move up to around Rs 120 crore. However, it won’t be drastically different from what we are currently doing, we like the space we operate in,” said Krishnaswami.

Some of the notable Lighthouse investments included leading snack foods firm Bikaji Foods International; personal care brand Kama Ayurveda; Kolkata-based diagnostic chain, Suraksha Diagnostics; agro-chemicals formulation firm Dhanuka Agritech Ltd; premium biscuit maker Unibic Foods; and others.

The latest investment of Lighthouse was in the Kolkata-based food tech startup, Wow! Momo, in which it participated in the investment round of Rs 44 crore, at a valuation of Rs 230 crore.