Athera Venture Partners, an early-stage investor specializing in technology, is known for supporting companies like space tech startup Pixxel and EV manufacturer Euler Motors. It has secured a capital commitment from HDFC Asset Management Company for its fourth fund.
Doshi mentioned that HDFC Asset Management has emerged as one of the key supporters of Athera Venture Partners’ fourth fund, which aims to close at ₹900 crore by early next year.
SIDBI Fund of Funds has also joined as one of its limited partners (LPs), bringing the share of capital for Fund-IV contributed by domestic investors to over 60%.
“Over the last decade or so, most venture capital firms have relied on external capital…around five years back, SIDBI started anchoring funds, in addition to which now there is money from high net worth individuals (HNIs) in the form of domestic capital. Around two decades ago, China started with foreign venture capital, and somewhere around 15 years back, there was a shift to domestic money. It is now happening in India,” Doshi said.
In 2022, HDFC AMC introduced an alternative investment fund (AIF) focused on investing in private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) firms. In October, HDFC AMC’s CEO Navneet Munot mentioned during a post-earnings analysts call that the fund had raised ₹1,200 crore by September 30.
Through this AIF, HDFC AMC is raising capital from domestic sources, including HNIs and corporates.
“There is a significant shift happening in India, where such domestic institutions are becoming large sponsors of VC funds. In fact, HDFC AMC and SIDBI together have become dominant LPs for our fund, overshadowing international LPs that are also participating,” Doshi added.
HDFC AMC’s fund has also backed Inflexor Ventures’ opportunities fund, which announced its first close in November with a corpus of ₹350 crore. Inflexor has invested in startups like Atomberg and Bellatrix Aerospace.
The India and US units of VC firm Inventus Capital split in 2022, forming Athera Venture Partners. Inventus India, which became Athera, had previously supported startups like RedBus and Policybazaar.
Athera launched its Fund-IV in May 2022, following its rebrand, when dealmaking had slowed due to macroeconomic challenges impacting investments and valuations in technology companies.
Doshi shared that through Fund-IV, which targets investments in consumer internet, enterprise software, AI, and deep tech startups, Athera has already invested in six companies. These include logistics platform Clickpost, robotics startup Cynlr, autonomous EV maker Ati Motors, gaming company Terra, AI finance startup Hyprbots, and Billion Hearts, a consumer tech venture founded by Koo co-founder Mayank Bidwatka.
The fund will focus on seed and series A deals, looking to write cheques ranging from Rs 5 to Rs 25 crore for 16-18 companies.
