India-based investment firm Venture Catalysts’ accelerator subsidiary, 9Unicorns, has reached a $40m third close for its first fund, with limited partners including food producer Haldiram’s, the Economic Times has reported.
Financial services firm Indian Bank and Chona Family Office also contributed to the fund, Haldiram’s having already backed a second close announced in February this year.
The fund’s capital now stands at $70m according to ET, and it expects to reach a final close later this year. It will back about 150 local seed-stage companies developing software-as-a-service, financial, insurance, healthcare and deep technologies, having invested in about 40 startups since the first close.
Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, managing director and founder of 9Unicorns, said: “As a fund, we aim to back early-stage companies that have the potential to become billion-dollar companies in the future.
“We have made our third close much before our set target and are looking to make the final close soon to propel an already thriving startup economy.”
