SAIF Partners to Raise a New $400 Mn Fund for Indian Startups

• The new fund will be larger than its previous three funds, which have consistently been $350 Mn. 
• SAIF partners have made many successful investments earlier that include investment in Paytm and Swiggy among others.
• The new fund comes at a time when venture capital investments have started bouncing back, after dropping earlier this year due to pandemic. 

The sector-agnostic private equity firm SAIF Partners plans to raise $400 Mn for its new India-dedicated fund, according to a filing with US securities market regulator SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission). It was first reported by TOI.

The new fund will be larger than its previous three funds, which have consistently been $350 Mn. With this fund, the firm will take its assets under management to over $1 Bn.

SAIF has been an early backer of unicorns like Paytm and Swiggy. While it has closed about 6 investments this year across sectors like consumer brands, software, education technology, and financial technology. 

These companies include energy bar maker Yoga Bar, SaaS-based startup Zomentum, Gurugram-based ed-tech startup Camp K12 and Jodo, which allows users to pay school fees in installments.

“For SAIF Partners, fund-raising typically does not take long given their track record. They will look to close the fund by end of the year,” said one of the sources to TOI. 

Some of the other startups in SAIF’s portfolio include UrbanClap, Unacademy, FirstCry, and BookMyShow. It also backs some public companies like Taj GVK hotels and resorts, Ratnamani, Mindtree, Karur Vysya Bank, and Indiamart among others.

Also read: Reliance Retail Raises Another Investment From UAE Based Wealth Fund ADIA

The latest development comes as venture capital investments have started bouncing back, after dropping earlier this year due to pandemic. 

SAIF partners have made many successful investments earlier. It includes a whopping 16X return when it exited from its investment in the travel portal MakeMyTrip.

Another successful investment is in Paytm. The VC firm was expected to gain about $300 Mn-$400 Mn returns on its Paytm bet in May 2017, by partially selling its stake to SoftBank.

SAIF Partners is a stage and sector agnostic private equity firm in Asia. SAIF Partners currently manages over $4 billion in the capital. The firm has offices in Hong Kong, China, and India.

While early-stage venture bets are its main focus, SAIF also invests about 20% of the corpus in public market transactions, where it holds a stake in companies for a long period. The firm has a portfolio of over 60 companies.

SAIF Partners has been investing in India since 2001. It specialises in private equity and venture capital across Asia. Its focus area includes IT, ITes, industrials, financial services, Internet, consumer product, and mobile. 

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