Ahmedabad-based venture capital firm GVFL (formerly Gujarat Venture Finance Limited) on Wednesday announced the first close of Rs 100 crore for its new seed fund Prarambh with a total corpus of Rs 200 crore. The firm said it is targeting investment in 25-30 seed-stage startups in the year in sectors including B2B SaaS, healthtech, agritech, climate tech, and deeptech. The average deal size would be Rs 1 crore to Rs 3 crore.
Founded in 1990 as an initiative of the Gujarat government and the World Bank, GVFL said it has backed 110 companies through nine funds raised so far. The firm has divested from more than 75 per cent “providing stellar returns to their investors,” said GVFL.
Speaking on the new fund, Kamal Bansal, Managing Director of GVFL, said “Prarambh Fund will ensure the availability of a seamless funding pathway for startups from seed to growth stages. We believe that providing capital support to pre-revenue and early-stage startups will position GVFL as a comprehensive venture capital firm, capable of supporting companies through all stages of their development.”
GVFL said it also offers a co-investment platform a4X.fund to help seed-stage startups with access to industry experts and mentors to accelerate their growth.
Mihir Joshi, President at GVFL said the firm has “committed investments of over Rs 150 crore in the last 18 months through its Emerging Enterprise Venture Fund, a Rs 500 crore fund. The first close of Prarambh reflects our commitment to nurture startups at the beginning of their life cycle and provide them with the necessary resources to scale to maturity level.”
With the new fund, GVFL said it will aim to work closely with incubators and global accelerators “to make a substantial impact on the entrepreneurial landscape, driving innovation and growth for startups.”
Some of the investee companies of GVFL are Sequretek, Vidooly, EcoTrail, Sitac RE, India INX, Varmora Homeware, and more.
