8i Ventures Reveals the First Closure of the Second Fund

The $50 million second fund of the early-stage venture capital firm 8i Ventures has reached its first closure, the company announced on Thursday.

High-net-worth individuals and family offices like Salgaocars and Kothari (DSP), which had also participated in the initial fund, have helped the company raise $25 million in its first closure. In December of last year, the early-stage VC firm unveiled its second fund.

By Vikram Chachra and Vishwanath V, 8i Ventures was established in 2019. Its portfolio includes firms including M2P Fintech, Blue Tokai, and Slice, a fintech unicorn.

According to Chachra of the VC firm, the final closing is anticipated to occur by March 2023, and will primarily be reserved for institutional investors.

Through the fund, 8i Ventures will make investments in e-commerce and business-to-business fintech enablers. In the beginning phases, it will often sign checks between $1.5 million and $2 million. However, the company stated that this might increase to $10 million over the following rounds.

“Fintech, in our opinion, represents the single biggest business potential in India. Our main realization when we started Fund I was the trillion-dollar potential of consumer payments and commerce. We have increased our focus with Fund II on B2B fintech and commerce, which we believe will be India’s next trillion-dollar market” said Chachra.

With the existing money, the company hopes to invest roughly 15-20 times, or five to six times every year. One investment from this fund has so far been closed, and two more are on the way.

The company partially departed M2P Solutions Pvt Ltd (M2P) earlier this year with a 36x multiple spread over two years. With its first fund, it had made a seed investment in the business.