Early-stage startup funding: Pratekk Agarwaal, the former Chief Business Officer at BharatPe, on Thursday, announced the recent launch of his venture capital fund GrowthCap Ventures — a single GP (general partner) and category II AIF fund for early-stage investments in fintech, SaaS and deep-tech startups. The fund aims to raise Rs 50 crore and invest in 12-15 seed to pre-Series A deals in the next two years. The investment size will range from $250,000 to $750,000.
According to a statement, the fund is expected to make its first close in two months. The fund will invest in startups showcasing early traction for its products with the potential for ‘significant scalability’.
Agarwaal, the Founder and General Partner at GrowthCap said that the fund will “actively engage with its portfolio companies,” with operational expertise, tailored advisory services, and access to non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) within the portfolio, along with network capital from mentors, operators, and venture capitalists.
Alumnus of IIM-Kozhikode, Agarwaal was earlier associated with Bajaj Finsev, Fullerton India, an Indostar Capital as well. He has already invested in over 35 companies and serves as an advisor to numerous startups including Decentro, FidyPay, Klub, Karmalife, Fundly, Transbnk, EximPe, Finsire, Threedots, Coffeee.io, Coverself, PumPumPum, etc.
The founder is also a part of the G-20 & Startup 20 — Startup Corporate Governance Committee that launched ‘Think Tank Recommendations on Corporate Governance for Indian Startups.’
The launch comes amid the ongoing funding winter for Indian startups. According to the data from the India Tech semi-annual report 2023 by market intelligence platform Tracxn, the startup ecosystem witnessed a 72 per cent decline in funding in H1 2023 compared to H1 2022. The total funding in H1 2023 was about $5.5 billion, much lower than the $19.7 billion in the first half of 2022. The early-stage round funding was also impacted, securing $1.4 billion in the first half of this year, reporting a 44 per cent decline from the previous half-year.