Source: YourStory
Newly-floated venture capital firm Kriscore Capital has made the first close of its maiden, Rs 200 crore fund at Rs 100 crore. The company intends to use the money to invest in early-stage technology startups in India. The offer also facilitates a greenshoe option that will enable it to mobilize another Rs 100 crore, so that total potential fund size is Rs 200 crore (nearly $23.3 million).
Kriscore, has received Rs 50 crore in commitments till now from a combination of family offices and high-net-worth individuals (HNIs).
The firm’s goal is to back 16 to 18 startups at the pre-seed and seed stages in the next 12 months. These startups will be selected on the basis of their potential in areas such as digital consumer services, supply chain resilience, global export-focused solutions, generative AI ( artificial intelligence), as well as net-zero ideas that help tie concentrations in the range of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to supply solutions of these greenhouse gases.
Kriscore has already made its first investment, into a stealth-mode startup that hasn’t announced anything — that is, the company’s name and what it does — so far been revealed publicly. This early investment shows the firm’s intent to act quickly and back promising ventures right from the start.
The firm is not solely “capital-provider”-centric, according to Nilesh Balakrishnan, General Partner at Kriscore Capital. It also aims to provide hands-on support and mentorship to the entrepreneurs it backs. Balakrishnan, who used to work with WaterBridge Ventures, has a rich background of discovering and nurturing potential startups over the years.
Kriscore has assembled a solid advisory board composed of reputable business executives to help achieve its mission. Manish Khetarpal from WaterBridge Ventures, Shyam Srinivasan, the former CEO of Federal Bank, and D Sundaram, a board member of Infosys, are on the board. It is anticipated that Kriscore will have an advantage in finding capable founders and assisting firms in rapidly scaling thanks to their networks and experience.
Kriscore Capital’s launch coincides with the start-up scene in India starting to recover. More venture capital firms are gathering money to help creative startups after a period of cautious investment.
And with its initial close wrapped up, Kriscore Capital is set to enter India’s burgeoning tech startup scene with the kind of financial support and expertise that the country’s next wave of promising builders will need to get off the ground
