Stellaris Venture Partners closes fund III at $300 Mn

Venture capital firm Stellaris Venture Partners has closed its third India-dedicated fund, which is focused on seed and Series A rounds, for $300 million.

The new fund brings Stellaris' total assets under managed (AUM) to more than $600 million. The new fund saw participation from existing Limited Partners (LPs) as well as new commitments from global investors including university endowments, foundations, pension funds and reputed fund of funds. 

According to Stellaris, Fund III will invest in 25-30 startups across consumer technology, enterprise software, artificial intelligence, and financial services sectors.

Founded in 2017 by Ritesh Banglani, Alok Goyal, and Rahul Chowdhri, Stellaris has backed 44 startups across two funds. It was an early investor in consumer brand MamaEarth, as well as digital adoption platform (DAP) player Whatfix. It is also an investor in consumer brand Nestasia, bags and accessories brand Zouk, and credit-on-UPI platform Kiwi, among others.

The firm closed its first fund at $90 million, and the second fund saw a sharp increase to $225 million.

Meanwhile, Stellaris has also elevated principal Naman Lahoty to the position of partner who joined the fund in 2019 to focus on consumer investments.