Venture Capital Firm Java Capital Launches Rs 75-Cr, Seed Stage Fund

Early-stage investment firm Java Capital on Monday said it has launched its first fund with a corpus of Rs 75 crore to invest in startups over the next 18-14 months. The fund has achieved its first close at Rs 30 crore and expects to do a final close in the next 6 months, the company said in a statement. Sebi-registered alternate investment fund (AIF) Java Capital said it has launched its "first fund with a corpus of Rs 75 crore, including a greenshoe option of Rs 25 crore".

The newly launched fund has already started investing in pre-seed to pre-series A startups and plans to build a portfolio of 15-20 startups with an average first cheque size of Rs 2 crore. The fund will reserve 50 per cent to make follow-on investments into top-performing portfolio companies, the statement said. "The Fund will participate and lead investments in startups looking to raise pre-seed to pre-series A funding across deep-tech, SAAS, enterprise tech, fintech and climate & sustainability verticals, out of which Java has already invested in 4 companies from this fund," it added.

Java Capital has invested in 23 startups like Agnikul, KukuFM, BharatX, Better Opinions, Yellow Metal, The E-plane Company, Kindlife, Legistify etc. Java has led the funding rounds in 40 per cent of these companies. More than 50 per cent of the portfolio raised follow-on funding in up-rounds. Four of these companies were selected for the Y-Combinator accelerator post-Java's investments into them.

As of now, the combined valuation of Java's portfolio is USD 385 million (about Rs 3,180 crore), the statement said. "We are super excited to announce the launch of our fund, and we are strong believers in a long-term growth story for India. We work with our ecosystem and partners in the true spirit of long-term games with long-term people leads to significant outcomes for society at large," Java Capital co-founder and Partner, Bhargavi V said.

(PTI)