Silverneedle Ventures launches Rs 100 Cr fund, invests in Knorish

Silverneedle Ventures, an early-stage technology focussed venture capital, has announced the launch of its Rs 100 crore worth new fund. The Hyderabad-based VC firm plans to invest in 30 startups in the next 18 months.

The fund plans to invest in pre-Series A, Series A rounds with a focus on B2B SaaS, Deeptech, Sustainability, and consumer internet, direct to consumer (D2C) among others.

Founded by Ajay Jain and Deepesh Agarwal, Silverneedle also said that it made its first investment from the new fund in creator monetization platform Knorish. The investment is a part of pre-Series A extension round of the Gurugram-based startup. 

Knoris plans to use the fund to expand business in new markets and onboard more creators and strengthen tech capabilities.

According to Knoris, the startup is tapping a market of 80 million creators and knowledge professionals in India who can eventually convert their skills into a creator business. The startup claims that it caters to 38,000 academies built by creators from 11 countries, impacting a million users in 45 countries.

In the past couple of months, around a dozen venture capital and debt firms have announced their new fund. The list counts Fundamentum, Stride Ventures, Merak Ventures, Cactus Ventures, Elev8 Venture Partners, StartupXseed, Blacksoil, Kettleborough VC, Fireside, Avatar Ventures, Alteria Capital and IAN. According to an Entrackr’s report, over 90 VCs, PE, and debt funds had announced their new fund launch as of July this year.