Received pitches from 3,000 start-ups in 2021: Rahul Chowdhri of Stellaris Venture Partners

Venture Capital firm, Stellaris Venture Partners, which is focussed on early-stage start-ups, is looking to close 7-8 deals in 2021 from its $225 million fund which the firm closed in August this year. Rahul Chowdhri, Partner at Stellaris Venture Partners, told BusinessToday in an exclusive interaction, that the VC firm has received pitches from approximately 3000 start-ups so far this year. India has seen a record number of start-ups having reached billion-dollar valuation (unicorns) and huge capital deployment across various sectors on the back of the COVID-19-induced digital acceleration and China’s tighter regulations on foreign investments.

“The number of start-ups who are approaching us has definitely gone up. But again, it is the quality over quantity of the early-stage ventures which takes precedence. The huge fund-raises have happened across the start-up ecosystem even for Series D, E rounds. India’s tech workforce is the largest in the world. The country also presents a huge opportunity as a market, which only makes sense for the investors to bet big on the ventures here. Besides, China’s stricter stance on capital deployment has shifted the base to India,” Chowdhri said.

He also pointed out that Stellaris Venture Partners is looking to invest into 30 start-ups in 3 years from its $225 million fund which it recently closed. “We are actively looking at consumer tech, brands, edtech, healthcare, fintech spaces . We also have a founders' network where various start-up founders have invested in personal capacities,” Chowdhri said.

In August this year, Stellaris Venture Partners closed its second fund of $225 million, of which 80 per cent of the capital was deployed by international VCs. The VC firm has invested in start-ups like Mama Earth, Zouk, Beepkart, Hypto, and mFine among others so far.

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