NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

MUMBAI: Aavishkaar, India’s biggest social entrepreneurship focused venture capital fund, would be investing about Rs 500 crore ($75 million) in start-ups from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

This would be for the first time that an India based fund has raised funds and would invest in South Asian countries. Aavishkaar would invest through Aavishkaar Frontier Fund (AFF), which is registered in Mauritius. Replying to an email questionnaire Aavishkaar said the investments in these countries would be in healthcare, education, sanitation, agricultural services, energy and technology amongst others. All the investments would be made in social sector where the returns or internal rate of returns (IRRs) are on a rather lower side when compared to other venture capital funds and private equity funds.

In last ten years Aavishkaar has been operational in India and has invested mostly in start-ups in the rural or semi-urban areas. In some of the cases the fund also invested at a seed stage. Aavishkaar currently has about $150 million under management, made some 48 investments through its four funds and has managed to get about 13 exits and 6 partial exits in two of its funds.