Chennai: Anicut Capital has raised Rs 140 crores from Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) for their second debt fund. The funds will be deployed through the second debt fund, Grand Anicut Fund-2, which closed recently at Rs 875 crores.
The funds received from SIDBI is through the Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS) launched under the Startup India Initiative of Govt of India in January 2015. The ambitious INR10,000 crore FFS forms a part of Union Budget Allocation and was launched to boost the growth of the startup ecosystem of the country. Managed by SIDBI, FFS contributes to the capital of SEBI-registered Alternative Investment Funds (AIF) instead of investing directly into startups. Thus, the corpus received has been down-streamed directly from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Receiving funds from FFS is a testament of Anicut’s potential and also strengthens their position in the asset class.
Commenting on the fund raise, I A S Balamurugan, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Anicut Capital, said, “I am pleased to collaborate with SIDBI for building the new age entrepreneurs of India. We are committed to encourage every aspiring idea and businesses in India that have the potential to self-sustain itself and generate more opportunities and employment within the communities it operates in. The pandemic is a testimony for many novel ideas that took shape to offer solutions to the unthinkable. We have recently closed our second debt fund and are enthused by the opportunity it provides us to translate the dreams into reality of many young enterprises. I congratulate SIDBI and Start-up India Initiative for such a visionary approach. The start-up scenario in India is very promising and we are humbled to be a part of it.”
Anicut’s 2nd debt fund saw immense success and was closed recently after raising INR 875 cr with successful investments across 15+ growth and early-stage startups, with an average deal size of INR 15-100 crores. GAF-2 has already invested upwards of INR. 580 crores and portfolio companies include startups like Wow Momos, ASG Eye Care Hospital, Akna Medical (acquired by Pharmeasy), B9 Beverages (Bira), Azure Hospitality, Kissflow and Wingreens of which BSB and Wingreens have already seen successful exits. The fund plans to invest in more than 30 early and growth stage companies across sectors such as consumer brands, technology, F&B, fintech, among others under categories of acquisition financing, promoter/buyback financing, growth capital and capital restructuring.
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