Indian VC firm WEH Ventures targets $13.7m for its second early-stage fund

India-based WEH Ventures announced that it is targeting 1 billion rupees (US$13.7 million) for the launch of its second early-stage fund. So far, the firm has raised money from the C-suite executives of Indian corporations and family offices, among others.

Deepak Gupta, founding partner at WEH Ventures / Photo credit: WEH Ventures

The venture fund has a ticket size of up to 30 million rupees (US$411,600), which it will invest into products and services aimed at solving problems related to the Indian economy.

It plans on financing 18 to 20 early-stage startups and will also have a substantial reserve to back the companies over multiple follow-on rounds.

Launched in 2017, WEH Ventures is a sector-agnostic venture fund, with 90% of its portfolio companies raising follow-on capital from institutional investors.

The firm said that it has a multiple on invested capital of 4.2x, with the average investment period at about 2.5 years old.

The second fund’s portfolio includes Unbox Robotics, a warehouse automation startup that uses plug-and-play swarm robotics to improve package-sorting productivity. It has also invested in a direct-to-consumer brand, a community-first app for native language-speaking users, and a gaming studio.

In 2017, the company’s first fund raised US$6.18 million from local high-net-worth individuals, family offices, and non-resident Indians.

Investment platform Smallcase, self-publishing and audio books portal Pratilipi, social commerce platform Trell, and dairy company Animall are part of the first fund’s portfolio.

Currency converted from US dollar Indian rupees to Indian rupees: US$1 = 72.88 rupees.