Kae Capital’s maiden fund wins big from part exits in Porter & HealthKart

Kae Capital’s $25 million maiden fund has delivered over a 5x multiple on invested capital across its India and overseas vehicles, following a series of recent secondary transactions in two of its earliest bets—Porter and HealthKart.

The fund’s India vehicle has fully exited with a distribution to paid-in capital (DPI) of 3.6x as of September 2023, while the overseas vehicle is on track to deliver over 5x returns, the firm said in a statement. DPI, a key metric for venture funds, reflects the cash returned to investors relative to their commitments.

“When we raised Fund I, seed investing in India was almost unheard of. Our goal was simple, back extraordinary founders at their earliest stages and stand with them across cycles,” said Sasha Mirchandani, founding partner, Kae Capital.

Kae’s fund performance comes at a time when limited partners (LPs) or investors are increasingly looking at the track record of general partners, who manage these funds, before committing more money. That has prompted investment firms in India to consider cashing out some of their bets to return money to their LPs.

Launched in 2012, Kae’s maiden fund’s India vehicle was closed in 2023, while the global vehicle has been extended for a few more years. Porter has already returned more than 2x of the fund, while HealthKart returned the fund on its own, even as Kae continues to hold stakes in both firms.

“Fund I’s DPI is not just a number, it’s a symbol of what’s possible when early conviction meets enduring partnership. We are proud to have played a role in shaping some of India’s most exciting companies, and even prouder of the trust placed in us by our founders and LPs. This is only the beginning,” said Gaurav Chaturvedi, general partner, Kae Capital.

Portfolio powerhouses

Kae’s first fund backed 32 companies across India and the US. Other notable portfolio successes include 1MG and Certa, alongside high-multiple exits such as Dailyround, Fynd, Airwoot, and Eventifier.

The fund’s performance was boosted by $900 million in follow-on capital into its portfolio, driving a combined enterprise value of over $2.7 billion.

Kae was built with the aim of capturing bold ideas at an earlier stage and supported with patient capital. Over the years, the firm launched a second and third fund of $50 million and $100 million respectively.

The second fund, which has already returned the secured amount, has invested in companies such as Zetwerk, Nazara, Snapmint and clocked exits in Halaplay, Fynd and Numberz with further value to be realised. The investment firm said the third fund is also seeing strong momentum from its investments in companies like Traya, Foxtale, and RecommerceX.

Expanding footprint, evolving focus

Across its three funds, Kae has backed three unicorns, with early cheques contributing to $7.7 billion in cumulative enterprise value and over $2 billion in follow-on capital.

Its first-cheque size has grown from $500,000 to $1–1.5 million, reflecting increasing confidence and scale.

Currently, Kae manages over $250 million across 90 startups, remaining sector-agnostic but sharply focused on seed-stage opportunities in AI, intelligent automation, manufacturing resilience, and deeptech.