MUMBAI: Early-stage venture capital firm JSW Ventures is preparing to raise its third fund, targeting a corpus of ₹400-500 crore as it looks to back a concentrated portfolio of startups and write larger cheques in a competitive funding market.
The firm, an investor in including StayVista, Purplle and Vetic, is currently seeking the necessary approvals before beginning fundraising, managing partner Sachin Tagra told Mint in an interview. The fund is expected to launch over the next quarter and reach a final close within 18 months.
“We plan to build a concentrated portfolio of 14-16 companies at Pre-series A to Series A+ stages. In fact, we will write larger cheques and add capital in follow-on rounds based on the requirements of our portfolio companies,” Tagra said.
JSW Ventures initially invested ₹8-15 crore per startup. That range has since increased to ₹10-20 crore for initial investments, with an equivalent amount reserved for follow-on .
“Returns and exits are core to our investing ethos, and we believe our fund size is optimal to deliver this in India’s startup ecosystem. We have followed a concentrated portfolio approach to help us devote more time and resources to each company and contribute to creating outsized value outcomes,” he said.
Backed by the JSW Family Office, the fund plans to source most of the new corpus from external investors, including large domestic institutions, family offices and senior industry executives. Over the years, the firm has expanded its investor base and evolved into an institutional venture capital platform.
Its first fund, sized at about ₹75 crore, was backed exclusively by the JSW Family Office. The second, a roughly ₹280-crore vehicle launched in 2020, brought in outside investors alongside the family office, marking its transition to a broader institutional structure. The JSW Family Office will remain the anchor limited partner in the third fund.
While its investor base has broadened, JSW Ventures’ investment focus has remained largely unchanged. The firm continues to invest in and consumer-tech, enterprise tech, health tech and deep tech, while increasing its focus on fintech and sustainability.
“At the heart of our thesis is India’s consumption opportunity. We believe the next decade will unlock an unprecedented expansion in how Indians spend, save, and aspire – and we intend to be invested at the forefront of it. This means backing consumer brands and consumer-tech platforms, including health tech, that are built to serve and scale with this growing demand,” Tagra explained.
Powering that consumption story is fintech, he added.
“Financial services have already transformed how India transacts, borrows, and invests — and we are still in the early chapters. We see significant opportunity across FinTech segments that are primed for the next wave of explosive growth, and we will be making high-conviction bets accordingly,” he noted.
AI and sustainability
Earlier this month, the firm appointed former CRED executive Vikas Chandak as partner to co-lead investment strategy, fundraising, investments, portfolio management and exits in the fintech and enterprise-tech sectors.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and sustainability technology are emerging as the next major themes across the firm’s investment areas, according to Tagra. “We are bullish on AI’s transformative potential across industries and will invest in vertical AI themes that can reshape how businesses operate at scale. The idea is to catch them early in their journey.”
He said sustainability-tech is also benefiting from favourable tailwinds, driven by regulatory compliance requirements and a broader global push toward cleaner technologies.
Delivering liquidity remains a priority for the firm, he said. JSW Ventures has fully exited IndusOS, LimeTray and Overcart, and has partially monetized its stakes in and HomeLane. Its first fund has already returned three times its initial corpus to investors.
“We have a few more exits from our past funds slated to happen by later this year,” he concluded.