Gemba Capital, a Sebi-registered Micro VC firm closes its second fund with a corpus of Rs 250 crore, including a green shoe option of Rs 50 crore.
Fund-II will invest in around 30 early-stage ‘Platform-first’ businesses across three focus sectors – Fintech, Consumer tech and B2B Platforms with first cheque of Rs 5 crore and around 30 per cent reserve ratio for making follow-on investments. Digital ‘Platform-first’ businesses are those which can create compounding moats through ecosystem creation, network effects or ability to stack value-add layers.
Gemba Capital founded in 2018, is a thesis-led investor which writes low-friction collaborative checks. Its Fund I of Rs 70 crore is 2022 vintage with an average cheque size of Rs 2 crore. Fund I was raised through investments from Family offices, Founders, and CXOs. Since its inception, Gemba Capital has been consistent in its investment strategy of investing only in pre-seed/seed rounds across their focus sectors, investing in less than 10 deals a year and focusing on value addition in the portfolio companies. The firm has developed a proprietary 'Founder Market Fit Framework' that assists in identifying the right teams to back.
Commenting on the announcement, Adith Podhar, General Partner, Gemba Capital, said, “Our journey has evolved from investing proprietary capital to running an angel syndicate and then raising and investing from our Rs 70 crore Fund-I. We are now looking to partner with institutional LPs for our Rs 250 crore Fund-II. The Indian early-stage startup ecosystem needs more institutional capital to be deployed through Single-Stage VC funds like us”, he adds.
“We are one of the leading institutional micro-VC funds in India at the seed stage and we remain committed to being a seed investor. Founders recognize the immense value we bring to the cap-table, which sets us apart. The fund has supported its portfolio companies in multiple areas, including customer introductions, fundraising and strategic planning”, adds Govind Lohia, Principal at Gemba Capital.
Emerging VC fund managers in India must navigate a challenging fundraise environment, but those who implement robust processes and maintain disciplined portfolio construct will always attract capital. Gemba Capital has a solid performance track record with successful exits and up rounds. It is targeting to achieve Final Close of Fund-II by the end of the year.
