Anicut Capital, an investment firm, recently completed its second debt fund, Grand Anicut Fund-2 (GAF-2), raising ₹875 crore.GAF-2has invested across 12-plus early-stage startups, with an average deal size of ₹15-100 crore, a top official of the firm said.
This fund wouldinvest in about 30 early- orgrowth-stage companies across sectors such as consumer brands, technology, F&B and fintech, among others, under the categories of acquisition financing, promoter orbuyback financing, growth capital and capital restructuring, saidIAS Balamurugan, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Anicut Capital.Founded in 2016, Anicut Capital manages two debt funds and one angel fund, with assets under management worth ₹1,500 crore across three funds.
Portfolio companies of GAF-2 includes Wow Momos, ASG Eye Care Hospital, Akna Medical (acquiredby Pharmeasy), B9 Beverages (Bira), Azure Hospitality and Wingreens. Additionally, Anicut Capital intends to launch diversified funds, including equity funds, financial institution-based debt products and accelerator programmes, in collaboration with premier institutions.
“Anicut is the lender of choice for early-stage and/or first-generation companies as we provide speed of execution and flexibility, which banks and NBFCs [non-banking financial companies] cannot provide. Depending on the projected future cash flow of the company, we foresee investments in startups and firms that find challenges in fund accessibility. We are looking forward to helping these startups build robust connections and infrastructure to raise more funds through our ecosystem,” said Balamurugan.