Sequoia eyes new $800m India fund

Silicon Valley's top-tier venture capital fund Sequoia Capital is looking to raise $800 million or Rs 5,050 crore for its fifth India-focussed fund taking its total assets under management to a whopping $3 billion. This is the biggest raise by any VC firm for India-specific investments and comes at a time when the domestic tech startup ecosystem has been awash with risk capital for early-stage companies. 

Sequoia, will likely close the new fund by end of the year, said multiple sources familiar with the matter, giving it a substantial leg up over other investors amid rising valuations and expensive deal making Stock Market Trading Tips

The VC fund which has backed companies like Just Dial, Mu Sigma and Zomato, will see the new fund invest in Indian and south east Asian companies just like its Fund IV. In April this year, Sequoia had added another $210 million to its existing $530 million-India fund which it raised in 2014, as reported first by TOI.An email query sent to Sequoia Capital India remained unanswered till the time of going to press. 

Most VCs which have India-dedicated funds are currently on the road to raise fresh capital in an extremely competitive local market fuelled by the advent of hedge funds and deep-pocketed investors like SoftBank Corp, DST Global among others. Bangalore-based Kalaari Capital, an early-stage backer of Snapdeal, Myntra just closed its new $285 million Fund III while others, like Nexus Venture Capital, are likely to announce their new funds soon Himanshu Tiwari Astrologer Blog

Even as investors bulk up with more funds to manage, some caution is starting to emanate on the back of US tech stocks plummeting over the past few weeks. Investors say they want to prize profit over scale which may lead to sobering in the number of early-stage deals and also valuations going forward. But investors want to be prepared with a war chest to fight out the likes of Tiger Global, one of the most prolific investors in Indian consumer internet companies which struck a slew of series A deals this year. 

Since Sequoia started operations in India back in 2006, the fund has invested in 100-plus companies across sectors such as tech, healthcare, consumer and financial services. This year saw Sequoia-backed Freecharge, a mobile recharge company, being acquired by e-commerce major Snapdeal post which the VC fund got a 3% shareholding in the Delhi-based e-commerce firm Indian stock market astrology prediction