New Delhi, Sept. 25 -- Domestic technology-focussed venture capital firm Chiratae Ventures announced the second close of its fifth fund at $150 million (Rs 1,329 crore) as it garnered commitments from domestic and international limited partners, institutional investors, family offices, and investors from its previous funds.

The VC, one of the early backers of unicorns such as Lenskart, Uniphore, PolicyBazaar, Cult.fit, Fibe, FirstCry, Flipkart, Lenskart, Myntra, Rentomojo, and FirstCry, intends to make deployments from its fifth vehicle in early-stage startups, including seed, Series A, and B, said a statement by the VC firm.

Chiratae is aiming to raise $350 million in all through multiple vehicles, including Chiratae Ventures India Fund V, Chiratae Ventures Master Fund V, and Chiratae Ventures International Fund V. These funds together will have a hard cap of about $500 million.

While the VC would continue to invest in AI, deeptech, healthtech, consumer tech, fintech, SaaS (software as a service), climate tech, spacetech, and climate, it will also expand investments into emerging sectors such as defencetech and quantum technologies.

"This second close reflects strong conviction in our ability to identify and support India's next wave of technology-led startups. We're seeing excellent founder momentum already, and this capital allows us to move quickly and meaningfully," said Venkatesh Peddi, managing director at Chiratae Ventures.

Some of the deployments from the fifth fund are in the resale homes marketplace HouseEazy, an AI platform for sales demos Pepsales, a meeting assistant platform Mili, and a quick commerce fashion platform, Zilo. The fund has six more investments in the pipeline, the statement said.

The final close of the fund will be Oct-Dec 2026, with MDs Peddi and Ranjith Menon leading the fifth fund.

VCCircle had reported about Chiratae's plans to raise its fifth fund in May 2023.

In January, VCCircle had reported that the Bengaluru-based investor had added government-backed Self-Reliant India (SRI) Fund as a limited partner for its fifth fund.

So far, it has raised seven funds, including a growth fund that it closed in 2023 at Rs 1,001 crore. Its total assets under management (AUM) across 130 investments and seven funds were $1.3 billion. It has made 50 exits and led 4 companies to an initial public offering.

Chiratae raised its first fund in 2006-2007, scooping up around $150 million.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.