Capria opens $100-million Global South Fund II

Synopsis The new fund will focus on investing in 20-25 tech startups in the entrepreneurial hotspots of India, Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, the Seattle, Washington-headquartered fund said in the statement. ETtech Dave Richards, co-founder and managing partner, Capria Ventures Capria Ventures, a global impact investment firm with a focus on India among other markets , Wednesday launched its Global South Fund II with a $100 million target close. The new fund will focus on investing in 20-25 tech startups in the entrepreneurial hotspots of India, Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, the Seattle, Washington-headquartered fund said in the statement.

With this, the fund aims to seek founders using generative artificial intelligence to transform companies across multiple sectors with a new focus on climate startups. The statement added that the new fund has marked its first close from returning institutional investors such as OIP Investment Trust and Gates Ventures and foundations, individuals, and family offices such as Crystal Springs Foundation, Sall Family Foundation, Brakeman Family Trust, and two founders of Pioneer Square Labs. It declined to share the first close corpus in response to ET’s request for comment.

From the Global South Fund I, launched in 2018, Capria Ventures had made three India-focused investments – agritech startup BharatAgri, jobtech startup Betterplace and fintech startup Eduvanz. The Global South Fund I had a size of $57 million and was fully committed to 12 direct investments and over 350 indirect investments. The first fund partnered with 14 investing firms such as Unitus Ventures and Arkam Ventures in India to make indirect investments.

With the latest fund, Capria Ventures has already closed three investments in startups present in Mexico, Brazil, Nigeria and Egypt – Kueski (fintech), Agrofy (agritech), MAX (mobility), and Paymob (fintech). These are warehousing-structured, a spokesperson told ET. Discover the stories of your interest Blockchain 5 Stories Cyber-safety 7 Stories Fintech 9 Stories E-comm 9 Stories ML 8 Stories Edtech 6 Stories About 60% of the new fund’s investments will be focused across India and the rest of South Asia, the spokesperson told said.

It will make early to growth stage investments in sectors including fintech, mobility, logistics, agritech, foodtech, climate, jobtech and HRtech, the statement added. “India has over 20,000 startups, while Southeast Asia’s venture capital investment is on the rise, with the internet economy projected to reach $330 billion by 2025. Capria’s Fund II recognizes these synergies and aims to invest in the most promising early-growth tech startups in both regions,” Dave Richards, co-founder and managing partner, Capria Ventures said.

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