Sauce.vc marks final close of Fund III at Rs 365 Cr

Consumer-focused early-stage venture capital firm Sauce VC has marked the final close of its third fund at Rs 365 crore (around $43.6 million).

“The fund was oversubscribed by 3x in four weeks and it was overwhelming and tempting to raise more but the right sizing was important. My apologies to all LPs who we couldn't accommodate in this fund,” said Manu Chandra, founder and managing partner of Sauce.vc in a LinkedIn post.

The VC fund has raised capital from Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan’s family office Pratithi Investments, Marico promoter Harsh Mariwala’s Sharrp Ventures, Singularity Ventures and Saison Capital. 95% of its capital was raised from domestic investors, with nearly 80% from the existing sponsors of Sauce VC’s previous funds.

The New Delhi-based firm invests in new-age consumer brands and platforms at a pre-revenue or idea stage. To date, it has invested in 21 companies from its two separate funds that were launched in 2019 and 2021.

Sauce.vc launched its first fund in 2019 with a target corpus of Rs 60 crore. It launched its second vehicle in 2021 with a fund size of Rs 158 crore. Its latest Sauce Continuity Fund was closed with a corpus of Rs 263 crore. 

It has already invested in XYXX, The Whole Truth Foods, Mokobara, Innovist, and Supertails from the continuity fund, and has plans to add oral care brand Perfora, ice cream brand Hocco and energy drink Rockit to the list of top-ups.