SAIF Partners rebranded as Elevation Capital; closes $400 Mn India focused fund

Early stage venture capital firm SAIF Partners has now been rebranded as Elevation Capital. In addition, it has also announced the close of its seventh fund at $400 million. 

This is the fourth and largest India-focused fund for Elevation. In July 2017, it had closed a $350 million fund to back early to late stage and public companies.

“Elevation reflects our investment ethos and re-emphasizes our commitment to the founders who help redefine our future. For our existing partners, it is a commitment of continued collaboration on our path breaking journeys together,” said Ravi Adusumalli, Managing Partner at Elevation in a press statement. 

Besides Adusumalli, these investments would be led and managed by Elevation’s five Managing Directors -- Deepak Gaur, Mayank Khanduja, Mridul Arora, Mukul Arora and Vivek Mathur.

With $3 billion assets under management, the eighteen-year-old venture capital firm is one of the top active investors in India, which has funded more than 100 startups including Paytm, Swiggy, MMT, BookMyShow, Rivigo, Coverfox, FirstCry and ShareChat.

SAIF typically focuses in sectors such as consumer products and services, technology, media, education, telecom, financial services, healthcare, travel and tourism, and manufacturing. Jodo, Zomendum, CityMall, FrontRow, Strata, and Camp K12 are among notable bets made by SAIF in 2020. 

It is worth noting that this is not the first time when any private equity and VC firm has rechristined its brand name. While IDG Ventures became Chiratae Ventures in 2018, India Value Fund Advisors also changed its name to TrueNorth in 2017. 

Despite the ongoing challenging economic situations, venture capitals of all sizes, especially early-stage focused, have closed new funds in 2020. The list includes Lightspeed, AngelList India, BEENEXT, and Sequoia.