India’s early-mid stage VC firm Helion raises $300M for new fund

Indian VC firm Helion Venture Partners revealed today that it has raised US$300 million for its fourth fund.

This takes Helion’s assets under management to US$905 million. The fund raised a US$140 million fund in 2006, US$210 million in 2008, and US$255 million in 2012.

It tends to invest in ecommerce, online services, mobility, enterprise software, and outsourcing. It has backed over 60 firms including Housing, Taxiforsure, MakeMyTrip, PubMatic, and RedBus.

Helion will continue to invest in early to mid stage startups, ploughing in series A and series B rounds whose average ticket size is around US$5 million and US$10 million respectively.

Indian startups go global

“Helion will put around three-quarters of the fund towards startups that are helping digitize the national economy, for example those involved in retail, travel, insurance and, loans. The remainder will be set aside for Indian companies with the potential to do business globally, for example analytics, enterprise software, and other outsourcing businesses,” said Sanjeev Aggrawal, partner of Helion Venture Partners, to TechCrunch.

The fund is likely to last for three to four years.

Deals in early stage companies in India were worth US$2.1 billion in 2014, up almost 50 percent compared to the previous year, according to data from private equity research firm VCCEdge.

In May 2014, Sequoia’s India-focused fund raised US$530 million while SAIF Partners raised US$350 million, Accel Partners secured US$305 million, Mayfield India II got US$108 million, and Lighthouse raised US$125 million.

(Source: TechCrunch)