Early-stage VC 35North Ventures Raises Rs 100 Cr Funds For Its Second AIF

August, 2024: Mumbai-based 35North Ventures (SEBI accredited VC Firm), an early-stage investor has raised Rs 100 Cr in its first phase of the newly launched CAT-1 AIF India Discovery Fund II.

The India Discovery Fund – II is the successor of 35North’s first CAT-I AIF, having a total corpus of Rs 500 crore plus 100 crore greenshoe. The VC received market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) in-principal approval for the launch of their second fund in June 2024 this year.

Sunil Gurbaxani, Ex-CEO Dhan Laxmi Bank and now the Partner with 35North Ventures will be the Fund Manager. The fund has already secured about Rs 100 crore in commitments from limited partners (LPs). Its LPs are a mix of High-Net-Worth individuals in India and abroad, with some Corporate Family Offices in India.

On the fundraise, Milan Sharma, Founder and MD, 35North Ventures, said, “We have closed subscription for India Discovery Fund-I with over 130 crores in March, this year. The investment theme in the India Discovery Fund-II will be similar to the IDF-I. 35North has invested in 16 companies across 10 sectors, mostly across Pre-Series A rounds. We will be investing in a few more businesses around the same thesis”.

Sunil Garbaxani, Ex-MD and CEO, Dhanlaxmi Bank and now Operating Partner with 35North Venture Capital, says, “Post the inception of our second fund in June this year, our focus will be on companies with scalable business models and foreseeable growth. It seeks to provide growth capital to companies across categories such as energy, consumer brands, fintech, and defence, amongst others. The average cheque size would be in the range of Rs 5-10 crore, across 30-40 companies, given the large corpus".

Some of the noteworthy, investments include those in CloudTailor, SpeEdLabs a hybrid EdTech company, Big Bang Boom, a multi-defence product company, New Space Research and Technology, Explurger, and Stupa Sports Analytics, among others.