Zomato Investor – Mirae has launched India-focused fund to back early-stage startups. The asset manager is aiming to expand its footprint in India with a $35 Million fund for Indian startups in the early-stage.
According to a report by ET – “Mirae Asset Venture Opportunities Fund 1, with a corpus of $35 million (Rs 256 crore) and an option to take it up to $75 million, will cut cheques for seed and Series A financing rounds, as it eyes an early entry into fledgling tech companies locally.”
Ashish Dave told to ET – “Our growth fund invests a minimum $10 Mn in assets due to which we missed out on a lot of early opportunities where companies wanted to raise smaller amounts. Further, since there is a global investment committee process, it takes some time to arrive at a decision. The India fund will give us flexibility to get in early in some of these deals as the decision-making is local and quick.”
He added, “Apart from leading rounds, we will work with some funds closely and co-invest alongside them. We also have our Korean partners who will be investing alongside us. Investment size will be around $2-4 million for seed to Series A opportunities.”
Speaking on the firm’s current India investments, Dave stated, “Our portfolio companies have fared well and are adequately capitalised for next 2-3 years at least. In fact, companies like BigBasket, Shadowfax and Zomato have benefitted significantly due to the increased digital adoption.”
Countries where Mirae has launched a country-based early-stage fund, other than India, are South Korea and China.
Mirae Asset Global Investments was founded in Asia and now has a presence in 15 countries, where it claims to have taken a collaborative approach in managing a fully diversified investment platform.
It has currently invested over $459 billion on behalf of its clients. (AUM as of Sept 2020). With 15 offices worldwide, the firm has 207 investment professionals and clients in more than 40 countries.
-AK
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