Venture debt firm Stride Ventures to raise $48m for its first India fund

The Indian fund, which was launched at the end of 2019, will invest in 25 to 30 companies across different stages, with an average ticket size of about US$2 million. It has already disbursed US$23.3 million to 11 companies in 2020.

Stride Ventures didn’t mention, however, whether this was the first or final close of its fund.

While the venture debt firm invests in companies across various sectors, it prefers direct-to-consumer brands and business-to-business firms. Its portfolio comprises of dairy tech firm Stellapps, cosmetics brand Sugar, robotics company Miko, logistics service provider LetsTransport, and interior design solutions Home Lane, among others.

Launched in 2019, Strive Ventures also co-lends with traditional bankers along with its own underwriting mechanism. It’s focus is on lending to startups in the pre-series A, series A, and series B stages.

According to the company’s founder and managing partner, Ishpreet Singh Gandhi, Stride has plans to launch a second fund, with a target corpus going up to 4x to 5x of the first fund.

See also: Tech in Asia Explains: The Startup Zoo

Earlier this month, the venture debt firm led a US$2.3 million debt round in digital entertainment company Pocket Aces.