Varanium NexGen Fund, a Cat-I AIF is an Early Stage Fund focusing on FinTech start-ups.
The opportunity- India startup Landscape
Key differentiator of the fund
Team and Track record
Varanium’s background in financial services and the Fund Manager’s (Aparajit Bhandarkar) investments track record with sector specialisation including successful exit. Notably, Aparajit was the first institutional investor into BankOpen.co, a series B funded start-up – a potential 32x bagger with its recent valuation at $150 Mn.
Unique platform
A virtual accelerator cum market place for Start-ups, which works as origination source for the fund- www.aimcrest.com. This will help Start-ups in providing business connects and capital raising, thus acting as mitigant to top two reasons of failure for start-ups i.e. clients and capital. The platform is also powering the website set up by Govt of Maharashtra for Fintech- www.mfhfind.com.
Stage of the fund
Lower competition in the early stage affords adequate opportunities at favourable valuations. Also, potential to exit are easier at series B/C vis-a-vis later stages.