According to Dave, Mirae will continue to operate both funds independently. Investment ticket sizes over $10 Mn will be through the growth fund, while the Opportunities Fund will invest in up to Series A rounds, the Mirae Asset Venture Investments CEO added. Mirae’s Korean partners would be co-investing with the Opportunities Fund, which will have an average ticket size of $2 Mn – $4 Mn.
“Our growth fund invests a minimum $10 Mn in assets due to which we missed out on a lot of early opportunities where companies wanted to raise smaller amounts. Further, since there is a global investment committee process, it takes some time to arrive at a decision. The India fund will give us flexibility to get in early in some of these deals as the decision-making is local and quick,” Dave was quoted as saying by ET.
In late 2020, Mirae invested in Zomato’s $660 Mn funding round along with investors such as Hong Kong-based hedge fund Steadview Capital, US hedge fund Luxor Capital and private equity firm Bow Wave Capital. In 2018, Mirae had invested in Bengaluru-based logistics tech startup Shadowfax, participating in its $22 Mn Series C funding round.
Seed funding in India has picked up pace over the past few months. In 2020, contrary to growth and late-stage funding, the overall indicators of investment were positive for the early stage (seed and bridge) rounds. The total capital raised at seed stage was $403 Mn, which is close to double of the $255 Mn raised at this stage in 2019, whereas bridge stage funding accounted for $221 Mn in 2020, almost 3x the $98 Mn raised in 2019. These are great signs for the startup ecosystem, given the state of the market in 2020 and the fact that early stage startups have attracted funding in a tough time proves that even investors have seen the value in the innovation.
