BENGALURU: Startup incubation platform, 9Unicorns on Friday announced the third close of its first accelerator fund at $40 million, as it looks to back seed-stage startups in the country.
This takes the total fund size to $70 million, with the investment platform planning to mark the final close of the fund this year.
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According to the fund, the third close witnessed massive participation from industrialists and businesses hailing from India and across the globe. Key limited partners (LPs) include snack maker Haldiram's, Indian Bank, Ahmedabad-based Chona Family Office, among other prominent ones, who participated in the fund’s recent close.
Through the funds raised, 9Unicorns has already committed investments in about 40 startups within seven months of its first close.
The Mumbai-based investment platform now plans to write the first external cheque to about 150 early-stage startups, this year, in areas of deeptech, software-as-a-service, fintech, insurtech, healthtech, amongst others.
9Unicorns' portfolio includes interactive video shopping platform Toch.ai; revenue-based financing firm Klub; fertility care provider Janani; marketing automation firm ExtraaEdge, among others.
"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," said Dr Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, managing director and founder of 9Unicorns.
Last year, 9Unicorns invested in over 32 startups. It looks to invest around $1,00,000 for 5-7% equity per startup at the idea stage.
During its last close, 9Unicorns said that it looks to raise an entire amount of ₹500 crore over the next few months from multiple corporations, family offices, and institutions globally, as a part of its fundraising efforts.
The investment platform had announced its second close earlier in February, this year.
