South Korea-based Mirae Asset launches India fund for early-stage startups

The company has allotted US$35 million to back startups in their seed to series A stages through the new Mirae Asset Venture Opportunities Fund 1. It can bump the fund’s size up to US$75 million, the report noted.

Mirae’s latest fund will invest between US$1 million and US$5 million over the next 12 months to 18 months in fintech firms, consumer internet, software-as-a-service providers, and other businesses in India.

Ashish Dave, who also manages investments from the roughly US$1 billion Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund, will spearhead the new India fund.

Because Mirae’s global growth fund “invests a minimum US$10 million in assets,” it has “missed out on a lot of early opportunities where companies wanted to raise smaller amounts,” said Dave.

The Opportunities Fund will deal with early-stage startups with an average ticket size of US$2 million to US$4 million. Mirae’s Korean partners will also be co-investing with the India fund, the report noted.

Mirae’s global growth fund has already invested US$200 million in Indian startups like ride-hailer Ola, online grocery BigBasket, logistics provider Shadowfax, and food aggregator Zomato, among others.