New Delhi, July 30 -- Hyderabad-based private equity firm Sri Venture Partners (SVP), which has so far deployed capital mostly through distress and special situations strategies, is set to roll out a fund focussed on biotech and innovation, a top executive told VCCircle.
The firm, which typically deploys non-pooled proprietary capital through the alternative investment fund (AIF) route, will follow the same strategy for the upcoming fund, taking exposure in companies across biotechnology, translational science, agritech, medtech, and pharmaceutical sciences.
The fund, which will operate through entities based in GIFT City and Dubai, is set to be launched within the next one-two weeks.
While SVP Science Fund does not have a defined target corpus, it aims to deploy roughly $250 million (Rs 2,390 crore) over the next two-three years.
"The parent company, SVP, will act as the sponsor, providing seed money and covering operating expenses for the first three years to establish an ecosystem. We are developing a large-scale venture studio to incubate, accelerate, and commercialise research," said M Kamesh Rao, principal at SVP Science Fund.
Rao added that the fund aims to address a significant gap in the industry where resources and capital remain fragmented.
Apart from incubating, accelerating, and commercialising research, the venture studio will house a campus designed to bring these fragmented resources under one roof. The fund will provide infrastructure (such as wet and dry labs, and specialised facilities), a global network of scientific talent, holistic support (such as a hospitality centre, family dorms, and parenting facilities), and IP commercialization services (to monetize innovations).
Sri Venture Partners currently manages a portfolio of 20-25 companies under its maiden fund, with exposure across various stages. Its strategies include stress funding, an acceleration programme, litigation funding, and special situations. It has exposure across sectors like manufacturing, real estate, agriculture, mining, renewable energy, and automotive, among others.
Set up in 2024, SVP operates as a sector-agnostic PE firm, staying away from traditional routes of fundraising through multiple limited partners (LPs).
"We intentionally avoided traditional limited partner (LP) structures to prevent external interference in our assessment criteria, particularly since many companies we assist are technically at 'zero' and would fail without our intervention," said Rao.
The company's plans come as the venture studio concept gains traction in India's startup ecosystem. Recently, financial services firm Capwise Financial also set up a venture studio vertical focussed on consumer startups to provide operating capabilities in addition to capital.
The format allows companies to access capital, support infrastructure and guidance under one roof. In comparison, in a standalone funding transaction, a startup only gets monetary support from an investor, with the expectation of financial returns within a stipulated time period.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.