Early-stage investment firm, Kae Capital has closed its Winners Fund II (KWF II) by raising $50 million (Rs 410 crores) to invest in its portfolio start-ups.

The fund, which was over-subscribed as compared to other previous funds, saw the participation of Velo Partners, Henry Kravis, co-founder and co-executive chairman of KKR, 360 ONE (formerly IIFL Wealth and Asset Management), Prashant Tandon, co-founder and CEO of Tata 1mg, Tanmay Saksena, COO of Tata 1mg, Sameer Maheshwari, founder of HealthKart, Abhay Soi, founder of Max Healthcare, Hemendra Kothari, founder of DSP Group, Yogesh Agrawal, managing director of Ajanta Pharma, Sanket and Apurva Parekh of Pidilite, and VM Thapar Family Office. 

With a history of investing in India for more than a decade now, the firm has invested in 81 start-ups, with a portfolio enterprise valuation of $8.76 billion, and has made 14 exits.

Through KWF II, Kae is targeting to invest in 20 companies. It mainly invests in initial cheque sizes ranging between $1 million to $3 million. Kae is an early-stage investor in many leading companies such as Porter, Zetwerk, HealthKart, Nazara, and Tata 1MG, among others. 

Speaking on the fund raise, Sasha Mirchandani, partner of Kae Capital said, “We are delighted to announce the closure of Kae Winners Fund II. Being pioneers of early-stage investing in India, we’ve seen the ecosystem grow and see enough merit in being involved for as long as possible in a company’s lifecycle. We have launched this fund to continue backing our best founders, alongside other successful founders in the ecosystem, who are not yet a part of the Kae family.” 

Contrary to its regular funds, KWF II offers exclusive access to companies of previous funds that are leaders in their respective markets, thus allowing co-investment with growth-stage funds in Series B, C, and D rounds. In addition to its own portfolio, the fund gives Kae the opportunity to invest in other market-leading companies. Some companies it has already invested in from this fund include HealthKart, Wysa, Brightchamps, and Disprz.