New Delhi, June 17 -- Atom XVII, a newly launched venture capital fund focussed on consumer startups, is targeting a corpus of Rs 75 crore (nearly $8 million) and aims to make its first close by July-end.
Founded by investor Harsh Kapadia, the Category II Alternative Investment Fund has already secured soft commitments of around Rs 40 crore.
The fund is backed by Safari Commercial Pvt Ltd and counts Mohit Mutreja of quantitative trading firm Alphagrep among its limited partners.
Atom XVII plans to invest in early-stage consumer startups from pre-seed to Series A stages, with a particular focus on those serving markets beyond India's Tier-I cities. The fund intends to build a portfolio of 13-15 companies and invest around Rs 3 crore (around $320,000) per startup on average.
Kapadia, a chartered accountant and Oxford MBA graduate, has more than five years of investment experience and said the fund was created to capitalise on opportunities emerging in India's consumer sector.
He was a former investment professional at early-stage venture firm Prath Ventures and private equity firm Multiples Alternate Asset Management. Kapadia completed his MBA from the University of Oxford's Said Business School in 2023.
The fund has already begun deploying capital and has warehoused its first investment ahead of the formal close. Earlier this year, it led a bridge funding round in coffee chain Nothing Before Coffee (NBC) and invested Rs 3 crore through its anchor investors. The fund said that it is also in advanced discussions to back a startup in the athleisure fashion segment.
According to the fund, Atom XVII will seek to co-invest alongside other venture capital firms and angel investors while focussing on high-growth consumer categories across India.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.