Homegrown venture debt fund Stride Ventures, which has backed the likes of HealthifyMe and Mensa Brands, on Tuesday said it has launched its fourth venture debt with a target corpus of $300 million, nearly double the size of its predecessor fund.
The launch of Stride’s fourth fund comes months after the firm hit the final close of its third debt fund at $165 million — $35 million lower than its previous fund. Its managing partner Apoorva Sharma had cited a weak venture capital market for a smaller third fund.
From its third fund, the firm has invested in companies including BlueStone, Moneyview, Moove, Foxtale, CureSkin, NewMe, Nat Habit, and AgroStar.
It secured the final close of its second fund in 2022 at $200 million. The firm’s Fund 1 raised $50 million.
Stride also said that the firm has become the first Indian fund to have surpassed $1 billion in venture debt commitments.
Demand for venture debt in the country has risen over the past 2-3 years as startup founders are seeing it as a favourable option to meet their working capital needs.
To meet this growing demand, many firms such as BlackSoil, Edelweiss Wealth Management, Alteria Capital, Vivriti Asset Management, and Anicut Capital have launched new vehicles in the past couple of years.
In September, India’s VentureSoul Partners, founded by former executives at HSBC, on Friday raised nearly half of its $36-million maiden debt fund in the first close.
In the same month, venture debt players BlackSoil Capital and Caspian Impact Investments (Debt) – signed an agreement to merge through a share swap, to have a broader client base and enhanced market presence.
In August, Trifecta Capital, which has backed the likes of Zepto and BharatPe, launched its fourth venture debt of Rs 2,000 crore ($239 million).
