New Delhi, July 28 -- Venture capital firm QED Investors, which has traditionally raised capital from investors in the US and Singapore, is looking to widen its limited partner (LP) base by bringing in more Indian and broader Asian investors into its future funds, a top executive told VCCircle.
The fintech-focussed investor, which backs startups across the US, Europe, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region, plans to increasingly tap Indian family offices, high-net-worth individuals (HNIs) and institutional investors to raise capital for future funds.
"The plan is to broaden our LP base to include more investors from India and Asia broadly," said Sandeep C Patil, partner at QED Investors. "It is for synergy. If your LP base is reflective of your investment capital, there's a synergy between founders, LPs and investors. You get into the right conversations at the right time."
Currently, most of the firm's capital comes from the US, Patil said.
"Our current LP base is large educational institutions and asset management companies in the US. We also have some Singaporean investors. They have been LPs for a very long time. We have some Asian sources as well, but we are (now) actually expanding to other LPs in Asia. That's something we want to build out, planning to go deeper into Asia (region's) investors," he said.
QED Investors, which manages around $5 billion in assets, is currently deploying capital from its $1-billion Fund VIII. Across India and the Asia-Pacific region, it has deployed around $250 million (Rs 2,393 crore) to date.
The VC firm has already begun working on deepening its LP base for the next fund, which it will launch by the end of 2027.
"There are LPs who want to build a relationship and get to know the fund, so we are happy to talk to them and walk them through the story, explain how we invest. We are having lots of conversations. But we'll only get into fundraising towards the end of next year," Patil said.
QED began as a family office co-founded by Nigel Morris, who also played a pivotal role in establishing Capital One. Its first three funds were backed by a single LP (family office), while Fund IV introduced an external limited partner. Fund V had around 8-10 LPs, and Fund VI expanded to over 100 limited partners. Since then, the firm has continued to diversify its investor base.
Globally, QED has invested in around 250 companies, including 31 unicorns. Its India portfolio includes Refyne, FPL technologies (OneCard), Jupiter, Efficient Capital Labs and Upswing.
Patil emphasised that QED is "not a tourist investor". Having remained active in India through market fluctuations over the past seven years, the firm views itself as an evergreen player committed to helping build India's long-term fintech ecosystem, he said.
The latest plans come as India's domestic LP ecosystem continues to mature, with increasing commitments from diverse family offices. A market once driven largely by foreign capital is increasingly being reshaped, with domestic capital emerging as a significant source of funding across both public and private markets.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.