Avendus, India’s main funding financial institution for enterprise offers, is seeking to elevate about $300 million for its personal fairness unit, in keeping with three sources acquainted with the matter.
The Mumbai-based agency, backed by U.S. personal fairness big KKR, has established itself as the highest monetary advisor in India, working with widespread growth-stage startups together with Zepto, LensKart, XpressBees, CaratLane, and Atomberg on their funding rounds final yr.
With its third personal fairness fund, Avendus plans to write down bigger checks extra regularly, one of many sources stated. The agency raised its second fund, amounting to round $185 million, in 2021. Its maiden fund was $50 million in measurement.
The sources requested anonymity to debate personal issues. An Avendus spokesperson declined to remark.
Avendus first gained prominence as India’s startup ecosystem first began to take form, capitalizing on the truth that a lot of its well-known rivals — together with Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JP Morgan — initially paid much less consideration to the Indian market. That was partly attributable to deal sizes within the early days: usually they have been beneath $30 million, not substantial sufficient to generate important charges, making it much less engaging for a lot of banner names to have interaction.
However because the Indian startup ecosystem flourished prior to now decade, turning into the third-largest on this planet, it has attracted international giants together with SoftBank, Tiger World, and Normal Atlantic, in addition to sovereign wealth funds like Temasek, GIC, ADIA, Khazanah, PIB, and Mubadala, which have collectively poured tens of billions of {dollars} into startups small and huge in India.
Avendus employs over 150 bankers and was the highest monetary advisor in India final yr. It offered companies in over 30 offers, together with merger and acquisition transactions, in keeping with Enterprise Intelligence, a non-public market perception platform.
Previously decade, much like monetary advisors in different areas, Avendus has diversified its choices, venturing into wealth administration, credit score financing, and personal fairness. Final yr, the agency additionally expanded its monetary advisory companies to the Southeast Asian area.
