Weekly rundown: Accel launches $650 mn new fund for India; Pocket FM secures $65 mn round

The week saw a handful of announcements from new and existing venture capital houses. Global venture capital firm Accel, which established its first India fund in 2005, announced the launch of its seventh fund for the country. 

The new $650 million fund will invest across India and Southeast Asia markets, taking its total commitment to the region to over $2 billion. Flipkart, Freshworks, Acko, Swiggy, and Mensa are among its solid portfolio base in India.

Singularity AMC, a venture capital fund backed by former Reliance Capital executive Madhusudan Kela, floated a Rs 600-crore growth opportunities fund. The fund will offer growth capital to technology start-ups. 

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It has already raised Rs 350 crore of the target corpus, of which Rs 150 crore has been deployed across six companies including Servify, Exotel, and Eduvanz. It looks at opportunities in fintech, insure-tech, enterprise SaaS, education loans and services, digital customer communication, and beauty and personal care. 

Mela Ventures, an early-stage fund floated by Mindtree co-founders Krishnakumar Natarajan and Parthasarathy N. S, announced the final close of its maiden fund at Rs 320 crore. 

Named MV Core Tech Fund-I, the fund received capital commitments from a group of global investors, government institutions, tech professionals and family offices including investments from Nippon India Digital Innovation AIF (NIDIA) and SIDBI Fund of Funds for Startups. 

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Mela Ventures primarily invests in early-stage B2B startups, but would also make a select few Series A and B stage bets.

Seasoned investor Radhesh Kanumury announced his new fund 'Suvan Ventures' which aims to raise about $10-15million investment in software-as-service (SaaS) companies. 

The early-stage B2B Indian cross-border fund expects to make 20-25 investments. Kanumury was the founding member and managing partner of Arka Venture Labs. 

Flipkart-backed agritech start-up Ninjacart launched a $25 million fund to support emerging and new-age start-ups in the agriculture sector. 

Also Read: Flipkart-backed Ninjakart announces $25 mn fund to invest in agritech start-ups

With an aim to boost tech innovation and accelerate disruption, Ninjacart said it will make seed investments in start-ups, entrepreneurs and tech innovators who present unique, sustainable and tech-enabled solutions. 

In addition, Ninjacart will invest in teams that have great tech abilities but may lack a solution or an idea at the moment. 

In an otherwise muted week of start-up funding, audio over-the-top platform Pocket FM secured the largest round.

The round was led by Goodwater Capital, Naver, and Tanglin Venture Partners. The new round takes its total fundraising to $94 million.