Anicut Capital, a multi-asset alternative investment firm, is currently raising its third credit fund with a target corpus of ₹1,300-1,500 crore. The firm is also on the verge of closing its first debt fund under the GIFT City structure.

The 3rd credit fund has so far received a capital of ₹800 crore, of which ₹400 crore has been deployed across 7 deals. The entire corpus is expected to be deployed by the end of the financial year, said Ashvin Chaddha, Managing Partner and Co-founder, Anicut Capital while announcing the launch of their office in Chennai.

Anicut Capital operates three distinct lines of business: seed fund, growth capital, and private credit. All its funds are raised directly, with no intermediaries such as distributors or wealth managers.

In the private credit sector, Anicut aims to bridge the gap in funding. The firm provides acquisition finance and buyback finance, supporting promoters in various financial activities. 

Chaddha mentioned that Anicut can handle 8-10 deals to a total size of ₹1,200 crore a year in this space. Since its inception, Anicut has deployed a total of ₹3,200 crore in private credit across mid-sized enterprises, with typical transaction sizes ranging from ₹20 crore to ₹150 crore.

Fund structures

Since obtaining its license in GIFT City last year, Anicut Capital has launched three active fund structures: Category II, Category III, and an Angel structure. Through these, it is looking at ways to access capital from outside India.

Additionally, one of the structures is designed to facilitate investments both within and outside India, allowing Anicut to fund a company for its operations in both regions. It is in the final stages of closing its first debt fund with a corpus of $10 million under the GIFT structure, expected to be completed in the next couple of weeks, said IAS Balamurugan, Managing Partner & Co-founder of Anicut Capital.

On Friday, the company, which has a staff strength of 30 plus, also announced the close of its maiden late-stage Equity Continuum fund of ₹300 crore (₹200 crore + ₹100 crore green-shoe option). This fund, bolstered by a substantial ₹60 crore investment from HDFC AMC, has been designed to support high-potential companies preparing for an IPO within the next 2-4 years.

With this closure, Anicut Capital’s total assets under management (AUM) have surpassed ₹3,000 crore across seven alternative funds.

Under Seed Fund, started in January 2020, it has invested more than ₹275 crore in 60+ early and growth-stage startups and the typical round size is between ₹3 and ₹5 crore. Its Equity Growth fund started in 2023, has raised over ₹350 crore and invested in 10 pre-series A/B companies.