Mirae Asset Venture Investments India (MAVI India) has launched its second early-stage fund with a target corpus of about ₹1,800 crore, along with a green shoe option of ₹700 crore, a top executive at the company said.
The investment firm has already marked the first close of the fund, with ₹1,020 crore coming from the ₹6,000 crore Unicorn Growth Fund, backed by South Korean technology companies KRAFTON Inc. and Naver Corp. Mirae Asset invested an additional ₹105 crore through its Indian group companies, taking the total first close to ₹1,125 crore.
“This is the first alternate investment fund (AIF) backed by the Unicorn Growth Fund. We expect to do more as part of this partnership with other Korean companies,” said Puneet Kumar, chief executive officer at MAVI India, in an interview with Mint.
“The next leg of capital raise will begin over the next week and will predominantly focus on domestic institutions, family offices and HNIs. This will give an opportunity to the domestic and Korean LPs and double down on opportunities,” he added.
Growth gap
The fund will target early-growth opportunities—a segment where Kumar sees the biggest gap in the market. MAVI India will typically evaluate companies between the Series B and D stages that are raising between ₹100-400 crore.
“The focus is on companies that have a strong product-market fit and are looking for growth capital. In terms of market capitalization, the bulk of the portfolio will be in the range of ₹1,000-3,000 crore as an entry valuation,” Kumar noted.
He added that the firm will write cheque sizes of ₹100-200 crore and may expand these to ₹300 crore through co-investments from LPs.
Mirae Asset has seen its India strategy evolve from investing through a global growth fund to raising dedicated alternative investment funds for the country. The latest fund is its third India-dedicated pool of capital overall.
India journey
The first early-stage fund, better known as Mirae Asset Venture Opportunity Fund I, was launched in 2021 and was about ₹370 crore in size. About 80% of the fund was backed by Mirae Asset, while the remaining capital came from domestic LPs.
The fund made around 10 investments across startups including Raise Financial Services (Dhan), Jupiter, Eka Care and Apps for Bharat.
The second strategy, called Mirae Asset Late-Stage Opportunities Fund, was launched in 2023 with a corpus of about ₹700 crore. About 20% of the fund was backed by Mirae Asset, followed by another 15% from other Korean pools of capital, while the remaining capital came from Indian investors.
This fund targeted late-stage growth opportunities (LSOF) and has taken positions in Shadowfax, Kreditbee, Raise Financial Services (Dhan), SK Finance and Ummeed Housing Finance.
“We expect to make one more investment from LSOF and then we will opportunistically make exits. Our primary mode of exits will be through IPOs followed by secondary sale to other investors,” Kumar said.
Four themes
The latest fund, known as Mirae Asset Venture Opportunity Fund II, will have a similar investment thesis. It will focus on four key themes: technology platforms, consumer discretionary (new-age brands), AI/software, advanced manufacturing and deeptech.
Technology platforms include various facets of consumer technology, quick commerce, fintech and content.
Mirae Asset also places importance on sectors such as artificial intelligence and related services, where value creation can happen. Advanced manufacturing and deeptech—which includes space tech, semiconductors and defence—are also important areas for the firm, Kumar noted.
“We believe maintaining presence within frontier sectors is important as they are strategically very important for the country and have the potential to generate returns to our investors in the long-term.”
While these funds will only invest in startups, Mirae Asset also has LP positions in funds such as Yali Capital, which focuses on deeptech, and Together Fund, which specializes in AI investments.