Venture capital firm Nexus Ventures Partners, which backed unicorns like Unacademy and Delhivery, has closed a $700-million Nexus Ventures VII fund. It will use the new fund to build startups across AI, SaaS, fintech, and commerce in India and the USA.
"There has been no better time for technology innovation. The pandemic has accelerated digital adoption worldwide across enterprises and consumers. Remote workforces have enabled startups to flourish by leveraging talent independent of geography. The recent breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence is enabling technologies to disrupt every sector faster than ever before," said venture capital firm Nexus Ventures Partners.
The VC firm said that with one of the largest developer bases in the world, India is emerging as a key innovation and talent hub for global companies driving AI and software revolution.
"India is also amongst the fastest-growing economies on the planet, with accelerating digital consumption powered by best-in-class mobile data networks and advanced payments infrastructure," it added.
Nexus Venture Partners (NVP), founded in 2006 by Suvir Sujan, Sandeep Singhal and Naren Gupta, invests in US and India-based startups. It has backed close to 200 startups in India and the USA.
India, NVP has invested in unicorns such as Zomato, Delhivery, smaller startups such as Postman, Unacademy, along with Zepto and Rapido.
"Our 'one fund one team' approach, with entrepreneurial and operating experience across Menlo Park, Mumbai, and Bengaluru uniquely positions us to assist entrepreneurs in building pathbreaking product-first companies in two of the most important technology startup ecosystems in the world — USA and India, said Nexus Venture Partners.
Nexus Venture Partners’ $700 million is also the second-largest fund raised by an Indian VC firm. Sequoia Capital India raised $2.85 billion to invest in India and Southeast Asian startups in mid-2022.
It comes at a time when early investors in startups are looking to exit or at least trim stakes at a time investment flows have dried up, as the startup ecosystem endures a prolonged funding winter. This has led to a sharp drop in valuations for secondary stake sales in these privately-held firms, said industry experts, reported Mint.
