New Delhi, Aug. 13 -- Mirae Asset Venture Investments (India) Pvt Ltd (MAVI India), the local venture capital arm of South Korean conglomerate Mirae Asset Financial Group, has marked the first close of a new vehicle that aims to raise as much as Rs 1,800 crore ($189 million).
The firm has collected Rs 1,125 crore for Mirae Asset Venture Opportunity Fund - II (MAVOF II) from its limited partners to mark the first close, it said in a statement on Thursday.
The vehicle will invest in early growth businesses across technology platforms, AI/software, deep-tech, advanced manufacturing and consumer discretionary sectors.
The vehicle is likely a successor to the India-focussed early-stage fund that the South Korean group set up in 2021-the Mirae Asset Venture Opportunities Fund I. MAVOF II, however, is much larger in corpus. The first fund had a corpus of $35 million, which could be stretched up to $75 million.
The development comes about eight months after Mirae said it was partnering with two other South Korean companies-gaming major Krafton and internet portal operator Naver-to set up a Rs 6,000 crore ($665.3 million) vehicle that will make India-focused investments. The Krafton-Naver Mirae Asset Unicorn Growth Investment Fund is looking at opportunities in growth-stage technology companies across Asia, with India positioned as the core market. This fund recently invested in home services platform Snabbit.
The Unicorn Growth Investment Fund, announced in December last year, has also backed the latest vehicle, Mirae said. It added that the vehicle has received significant contributions from Mirae Asset India and global businesses. After the first close, the fund will now focus on raising capital domestically to deepen its presence in India.
The fund will back high-growth Indian companies that have demonstrated product-market fit and are entering their next phase of scale, the firm said.
"India is entering a new phase of innovation where companies are moving beyond proving product-market fit to building businesses with the potential to become category leaders, both in India and globally," said Puneet Kumar, chief executive, MAVI India.
"While the ecosystem has gotten more vibrant over the years, there is a big gap in the ecosystem today in the Series B-D stages when they are looking for growth capital. With Mirae Asset Venture Opportunity Fund - II, we want to partner with founders at this important stage of their journey and help them build large, enduring companies," he added.
Mirae Asset has been making VC-style investments in India since 2018. Over the last eight years, it has invested in companies such as Shadowfax, Raise (Dhan), and Kreditbee, among others.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.