[Funding alert] Multiply Ventures Announces its Maiden Fund of Rs. 260 Crore

Raveen Sastry, Sanjay Ramakrishnan, and Bhushan Patil, former Myntra, Flipkart, and Paytm executives, have announced the closing of their first fund, Multiply Ventures. The first fund of a thesis-driven domestic fund that specializes in consumer technology investments has raised Rs. 260 crore, slightly more than the target of Rs. 250 crore. Fintech, Edtech, Retail, and Health are the four primary industries that the fund focuses on.

The fund had already gained SEBI clearance to launch in 2020, and it recently completed its final close. Before forming a structured fund, the three partners created a portfolio of 30 companies as angel investors. Open Financial, DealShare, Gramophone, ShopKirana, Madstreet Den, and Skill Lync are among the major startups in the Pre-fund.

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Sanjay Ramakrishnan, Partner at Multiply said, “We are thesis-driven in our investment and the broad thesis is that -India will see the emergence of trusted brands that will improve access to quality education, transparent financial services, affordable healthcare & authentic retail experiences. Technology will be a unifying catalyst across all sectors. We have a sub-thesis for each of the 4 sectors. The thesis is our governing framework and keeps evolving.”

Indian family offices and digital-first entrepreneurs make up the majority of the investors. India accounts for 95% of the investment. Multiply Ventures has so far invested in 15 firms and plans to invest in another 8 to 10 in the next 12 months. Nova Benefits, upswing, Freed, Bharat X in fintech, Nutty Yogi, Iluvia in sustainable consumer space, Jovian, & smart Harvey in Edtech, and OneCare & Being in Health are among the portfolio firms.

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“We are on our path to setting up an operational VC firm, joining hands with Startups as extended partners, which is essential for the Indian ecosystem. While the digital ecosystem has evolved locally, many innovations across sectors will come from early-stage startups which will need support beyond the capital. The right selection, getting in early, and building for larger consumer segments have proven to get the best impact and investment returns for us and we will continue to build on this,” said Bhushan Patil, Partner at Multiply.

“For example, today over the 1 trillion dollar Fintech economy, we are still just scratching the surface. We are witnessing many nascent stage startups across sectors like infrastructure, credit, digitizing BFSI products, building tech-led distribution, identity systems for mass adoption, financial literacy, and inclusion. All these need expertise from the core BFSI domain, global digitization models/methods, how-to’s of building a brand, customer trust, expert views about compliance & regulations, and most importantly awareness of the unit economics to build profitable businesses. We as a team bring these much earlier in the business life cycles of the startups we are bringing under our portfolio,” adds Bhushan who leads the fintech investment practice at Multiply. 

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Multiply Ventures will invest very early, and ideally, be the 1st institutional investor, and in most cases lead the round. Our average 1st cheque is 4 Cr and we will invest up to 20 Cr in efficiently run business till series – A. Beyond capital, the Multiply team brings in decades of digital space experience & connects from both domestic and global markets. “My experience of building Myntra, Hoopos & Nudgespot as a Founder, Bhushan’s experience at Paytm, Alibaba, and Yahoo in product, cross-border commerce & fintech, and Sanjay’s experience in consumer marketing across Google, Myntra, Flipkart & Ogilvy is what we bring to the table beyond capital and loads of empathy,” said Raveen Sastry, Partner at Multiply Ventures.

Over the next five years, the fund aims to be one of India’s most influential early-stage venture capital firms. It will be an excellent start for the fund if a majority of the good founding teams in the country include Multiply in their consideration set when raising their seed round.

About Multiply Ventures

Multiply Ventures is a SEBI registered AIF in India, operating from Bangalore, the startup hub of India. The fund is thesis-driven & sector-focused and invests in startups focusing on the Indian consumers across -fintech, retail, health, and edtech.

The core tenant is to invest very early and be the 1^st institutional cheque and in the majority of them be the lead investor. Pre-seed/Seed is the focus and the fund will be investing till Series A in companies that are growing efficiently. 

The team brings in a collective experience of over 60 years as operators in consumer tech companies and that is a space the team understands well, so the decision to focus on consumer tech for the maiden fund.