Elev8 Venture Partners marks Rs 1400 crore close of maiden fund

Elev8 Venture Partners, founded by former Kae Capital partner Navin Honagudi, has raised its first fund of ₹1,400 crore ($160 million) to back startups in the consumer internet, enterprise software and fintech sectors.

The fund is backed by investors from South Korea, Hong Kong, and India, including sovereign funds, family offices, and unicorn founders. KB Investment from South Korea is the anchor investor, and Self Reliant India Fund has also invested. About one-third of the fund has already been used.

Read also- Weekly Startup Funding News Report of August 2025

Elev8, which backs growth-stage startups, will invest the rest of the fund over the next 12–18 months. It plans to put $10–15 million each into 12–14 startups valued at $100–300 million.

Elev8’s portfolio includes Astrotalk (online astrology), Idfy (identity verification), Smallcase (wealthtech), Porter (on-demand logistics), and Snapmint (fintech). The firm says these startups are growing over 30% a year while staying profitable.

“We do not look at investing in companies with binary risk, like hit-or-miss-like gaming companies. We typically look to back only profitable companies, and companies which have existing institutional investors because then corporate governance would not be a challenge,” said managing partner Honagudi.

The fund got its AIF Category II license from SEBI in 2022. KB Investment, its anchor investor, has backed Indian startups like PharmEasy, spinny, Fareye, vedantu, Kuku FM, Rupeek, rivigo, Cashify, and tracxn. It is one of 13 subsidiaries under South Korea’s KB Financial Group.

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