Venture Catalysts launches 9Unicorns Fund with $43.4 Mn corpus

Buoyed by opportunities in Indian startup space, funds of all sizes have been raising larger corpus. Right from growth-stage funds to early-stage had raised larger corpus than their previous ones.

After raising $695 million India and SEA focused fund, Sequoia is reportedly adding another $200 million for placing bets on early-stage startups.

Besides top tier VC firms, several small size funds such as Artha Venture and Roots Ventures had successfully raised fresh funds. Joining the league of aforementioned funds, Mumbai-based integrated incubator - Venture Catalysts has launched its 9unicorns Fund with a corpus worth $43.3 million.

The raised fund will be deployed towards finding promising early-stage startups focused on sectors such as fintech, mobility, EVs, AI, virtual reality, and the traditional spaces of FMCG and retail as well.

The Mumbai based accelerator will be using the proceeds to fund around 100 ventures each year, offering its standard deal of Rs 60 lakh for an equity stake of 5%. Further, it will also be investing Rs 3-5 crores in succeeding rounds in startups who have shown sustained growth after the initial funding.

To support incubated startups, Venture Catalysts has created the ecosystem enablers' community including angel investors, micro VC firms, consultants, legal and financial advisors. 

Apart from presence in top cities, the firm has offices across Lucknow, Raipur, Surat, Nagpur, Jaipur, Kochi and several others. The firm has incubated a slew of startups including Innov8, GoMechanic, Beardo, ConfirmTKT, and Ambee. 

Over the past few months, early-stage focused funds have been raising significant corpus. Indian Angel Network (IAN) had raised Rs 227 crore for its maiden fund in May. Another Mumbai-based micro VC Unicorn India Ventures has set a goal to raise Rs 400 crore worth second fund.