Prime Ventures today announced its fourth fund of $100 million, with a first close of $75 million (Rs 556 crore). Prime had raised its last fund of $72M in 2018, a second fund of $46M in 2015 and a $8M first fund in 2012. It will continue to focus on being the first institutional investor, maintaining its high-conviction and deep-support investing model in early-stage technology startups.
Funds I to III are committed across 32 companies spanning sectors such as fintech, healthcare, SaaS, education and logistics.
In addition to existing focus areas of fintech, edtech, healthtech, consumer internet and global SaaS, the firm expects to expand into new areas, notably Decentralised Finance (DeFi)/crypto, electric vehicle and gaming infrastructure platforms. Prime also announced that it is actively looking to expand its leadership team by adding a fourth partner.
Amidst the pandemic, the entire fund raise was done virtually. Fund Four investors include the International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group, a top-tier university endowment, several returning family offices and institutions, and numerous global technology entrepreneurs, reflecting the team's strong network of relationships across the industry in both the US and South-East Asia.
Founded in 2012 by Shripati Acharya and Sanjay Swamy, Prime added Amit Somani as a partner in 2015. With a view of bringing Silicon Valley-style professionalism to venture investing, Prime’s mission is to partner early with entrepreneurs and help build world-class technology companies that are addressing some of India’s most important problems. Prime is typically the first institutional investor and focuses on companies with an innovative approach to solving fundamental problems through technology, it said in a press release.
Shripati Acharya, managing partner, Prime Venture Partners, said, "We have had the privilege of partnering with many of the category defining companies in India from their early stages such as Quizizz, MFine, MyGate, NiYO, KredX, and WheelsEye. We couldn’t be more optimistic about the depth of the entrepreneurial talent and the level of ambition among the founders in India, as they bring disruptive innovation, not only in India but to the world.
