Foundation PE acquires 100% of LP interests in Prime Venture Partners’ first fund

Foundation Private Equity (FPE), an early-stage India-focused VC fund, announced today that FPE has acquired all of the LP interests in Prime VP’s Fund 1 via a LP tender offer process.

Prime VP’s Fund 1 is a Mauritius-based fund and the first investor in seven companies including edtech startup Quizizz, and fintech startup Happay (recently acquired by CRED). With this development, Prime VP has delivered a healthy, top-decile return to its Limited Partners in its 9th year of operation and has further extended the fund by four years. Singapore based Candor Asia Advisors Pte Ltd., a specialist in complex secondaries and GP-led deals, was the sole advisor to this transaction.

In 2021, Private Equity-Venture Capital (PE-VC) firms invested a record $63 billion across 1,202 deals in Indian startups.

Foundation Private Equity, started by industry veterans Jason Sambanju and Jeremy Foo, was formed in 2017 with a mission to provide innovative solutions to Limited Partners and General Partners at all points of their fund life cycle. Prime Venture Partners is an India-focussed early stage firm started in 2012 with an Indian advisory office led by Shripati Acharya, Sanjay Swamy, Bala Parthasarathy and Amit Somani.

With this fund extension, FPE now becomes the sole LP in Prime VP’s first fund that was originally raised in 2012.

Jeremy Foo, Co-Founder & Partner, Foundation Private Equity, said, "We are excited to be backing a very high-quality GP team and portfolio with our first transaction in India. We have strong conviction in the value that Prime VP brings to their investee companies, and are excited about the journey ahead."

Sanjay Swamy, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Priven Advisors, Advisory to Prime Venture Partners, said, "Ensuring founders have the opportunity to build their businesses to their full potential, while providing meaningful returns to our Limited Partners, is what the Prime VP team strives for as advisors. This event is a validation of the ‘concentrated portfolio with active support’ strategy that has defined our approach from Day Zero."

Jay Zaveri, Partner, Discover at Social Capital, said, "Social Capital anchored the first fund of Prime Venture Partners to tap these early stage opportunities and we are excited to see them come to fruition. "

Soma Ghosal Dhar, Managing Director Candor Asia Advisors Pte. Ltd. said, "Such secondary restructurings offer a powerful second wind to high quality portfolios managed by pedigreed GPs, while also providing much needed liquidity at attractive return multiples to patient LPs."

Published on: Thursday, January 13, 2022, 09:17 AM IST