StartupXseed Ventures, an early-stage business-to-business (B2B) venture capital firm has announced the final close of its fund II at a commitment of ₹243 crore. .

The VC firm focuses on deep tech start-ups and invests in enterprise solutions with a clear understanding of market barriers and the ability to sell across global markets. According to the company, by investing early, they expect to achieve a higher return on investment by assisting start-ups in advancing into product development, growth strategies, geographic expansion, and strengthening organisational capabilities at an early stage.

“On the investments, we look at solutions where the convergence of new business models and technologies is imperative. This way, we are helping ourselves in working on the next big verticals ahead of the curve,” said Ravi Thakur, co-founding partner of the fund.

StartupXseed is interested in start-ups with innovations in technologies related to cloud migration of brownfield projects; AI-led workflow automation; energy storage technologies for quick discharge applications; AI-led e-commerce enablers, and other disruptive technologies in respective markets. The first cheque will be in the range of ₹5 crore to 12 crore, said the company.

“Having expertise in the B2B segment, we have helped founders gain commendable success and our average markup of past investments is more than six times,” said BV Naidu, Managing Partner at StartupXseed. 

The VC firm was an early investor in companies like DarwinBox, CloudSEK, Bellatrix, and AUS (Aarav Unmanned Systems). According to the release, they may exit some of their other portfolio companies over the next year because their valuation has increased multiple times since their first investment.