The fund counts institutions from South Korea, Hong Kong and India among its backers, alongside sovereign funds, family offices and several unicorn founders. South Korea-based KB Investment is the anchor limited partner, while Self Reliant India Fund has also contributed capital to the fund.
About a third of the corpus has already been deployed.
Elev8, which focuses on growth-stage investments, plans to deploy the remaining two-thirds of the fund over the next 12–18 months. It will invest $10–15 million each in 12–14 startups valued between $100 million and $300 million, managing partner Honagudi told ET.
Its portfolio includes online astrology services startup Astrotalk, identity verification firm Idfy, wealthtech company Smallcase, on-demand logistics platform Porter and fintech startup Snapmint. According to Elev8, these firms are growing at over 30% annually while remaining profitable.
“We do not look at investing in companies with binary risk, like hit-or-miss-like gaming companies. We typically look to back only profitable companies, and companies which have existing institutional investors because then corporate governance would not be a challenge,” said Honagudi.
The fund received its AIF Category II licence from markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India in 2022. KB Investment’s startup portfolio in India includes PharmEasy, Spinny and Fareye, Vedantu, Kuku FM, Rupeek, Rivigo, Cashify and Tracxn. KB Investment is one of the 13 subsidiaries managed by the KB Financial Group, a financial services provider in South Korea.
Several venture capital firms have announced fund closures this year. For instance, Bessemer Venture Partners closed its second dedicated India fund at $350 million in March, aiming to invest in startups across artificial intelligence (AI), software-as-a-service, fintech, digital health, consumer brands and cybersecurity. Accel also closed its eighth India-focused fund in January, raising $650 million in investor commitments.
