Tech-focused venture fund, Arkam Ventures, formerly known as Unitary Helion, has marked the first close of its maiden fund worth Rs 700 crore which would mainly focus on early-stage startups.
The Bengaluru-based firm has already received the first tranche worth Rs 325 crore for its Fund-I and it is further targeting to raise Rs 375 crore by the end of this financial year.
The key backers of the newly launched fund include US-based Capria, Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), Binny Bansal, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Rajesh Magow along with few other US and India based prominent family offices.
Arkam Ventures is looking to deploy the latest fund in around 15-18 early-stage startups largely focused on financial services, health care, food, agriculture, and logistics space. According to the firm, Rs 10-15 crore would be the average cheque size for Series A startups, whereas Rs 20-25 crore ranging capital would be allotted to companies at their Series B stages.
Founded in 2017 by Rahul Chandra, former managing director at Helion Venture Partners and Bala Srinivasa, a former partner at Kalaari Partners, Arkam caters to the needs of middle-income India comprising 400 million people whose annual family income ranges up to Rs 20 lakhs.
Having backed more than 10 companies to date, the firm counts microfinance platform- Spandana, health tech startup- Affordplan, AI-based consumer banking- Active.AI, digital content platform- ScoopWhoop, among others as their portfolio companies.
Arkam has joined the list of several other VC firms focused on seed and early-stage startups in India including Accel India, AngelList India, Indian Angel Network (IAN), Blume Ventures, DSG Consumer Partners, and 3one4 Capital, which have closed their targeted funds in the past one year.
