Avendus, India's leading venture investment bank, is looking to raise about $300 million for its private equity arm, three people familiar with the matter said.
Backed by US private equity giant KKR, the Mumbai-based company worked with popular growth-stage startups like Zepto, LensKart, XpressBees, CaratLane, and Atomberg in its funding round last year, making it one of India's top has established itself as a financial advisor.
Avendus is a third private equity fund with plans to write larger checks more frequently, one of the people said. The company raised a second round of funding of approximately $185 million in 2021. The initial funding size was $50 million.
The officials requested anonymity to discuss private matters. A spokesperson for Avendus declined to comment.
Avendus first rose to prominence by taking advantage of the fact that many of its prominent rivals, such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JP Morgan, did not initially pay much attention to the Indian market. This was when the ecosystem began to take shape. This was partly due to the initial deal size. The deal size was typically less than $30 million, which was not large enough to incur large fees, making the deal less attractive for many banner names.
However, as India's startup ecosystem has flourished over the past decade, becoming the third largest in the world, it has become home to not only global giants such as SoftBank, Tiger Global and General Atlantic, but also Temasek, GIC, ADIA, It has also attracted government funds such as Khazanah. , PIB and Mubadala have collectively pumped tens of billions of dollars into startups large and small in India.
Avendus employs more than 150 bankers and was India's top financial advisor last year. The firm provided services in more than 30 transactions, including merger and acquisition transactions, according to Venture Intelligence, a private market insights platform.
Over the past decade, like other regional financial advisors, Avendus has diversified its services and expanded into asset management, credit finance and private equity. Last year, the company expanded its financial advisory services to the Southeast Asia region.