World Banks’s investment firm International Finance Corporation(IFC) will reportedly be pouring around $20 million in early-stage focused venture capital firm Chiratae Ventures.
The VC firm will utilise the proceeds to reach the first close of its Fund IV and would be benefitting greatly from IFC’s brand in getting co-investors and follow on capital for the startups in its portfolio.
Chiratae was launched in 2006 as IDG Ventures India by Sudhir Sethi, T.C.M. Sundaram, and Manik Arora who left the firm in 2015.
Rebranded as Chiratae last year, the firm focusses on sectors such as health tech, software/ SaaS and fintech and consumer media and technology, investing in domestic startups through seed capital and early equity financing rounds.
The VC firm has invested in over 75 ventures, including Myntra, Nestaway, Bounce. Cure.fit and Early Salary.
If we look at its first two funds, it raised around 70% of the funds from international Limited Partners (LPs). However, the VC firm closed 40% of its Fund III from domestic investors.
Currently, Chiratae has $470 million in total assets under its management with two of its investee ventures close to stage public offerings (aka IPOs).
Its latest Fund IV has been registered in Mauritius as Chiratae Ventures International Fund IV LLC with the Indian counterpart registered as Chiratae Ventures Master Fund IV, a Category I Alternate Investment Fund (AIF).
This is yet another investment in the Indian venture capital by IFC that focusses on investments in the private sectors. The unit of World Bank also backed a new venture capital firm A91 Partners with 25 million as LP.
IFC has provided around $285 billion in financing for businesses in developing countries. The corporation has been active on Indian shores with several investments in the domestic entities.
In 2019, it invested around $10 million in the Indian trucking platform Blackbuck besides leading series C round in B2B industrial goods marketplace Moglix.
