Sanjeev Bikhchandani, founder, Info Edge.Naukri.com parent Info Edge has set up a new growth-stage investment fund with a capital commitment of ₹250 crore, marking its first dedicated vehicle for later-stage bets, according to a filing made with the exchanges. The new vehicle is called B8 Fund-I. According to sources, the fund could raise capital from external sponsors as well taking the total corpus to beyond the initial ₹250 crore.
The Noida-headquartered company already operates four early-stage investment platforms. These include Info Edge Ventures, which has raised ₹2,300 crore across three funds; Capital 2B with a ₹280-crore corpus; Redstart Labs, focused on AI-led startups; and direct investments from its balance sheet.
Through its balance sheet, the company backed firms such as Zomato and Policybazaar in their early years.
Info Edge has backed several startups at the early stages through its venture vehicles, including Gnani AI, Ixigo, Shiprocket, Zingbus and Truemeds.
In May last year, the company had announced that its shareholders approved a plan to invest up to ₹1,000 crore in Info Edge Ventures’ third fund as a part of the company’s strategy to institutionalise its startup investing platform.
The Info Edge Ventures funds are run by the company in a 50:50 partnership with Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek.
The new ₹250-crore fund will focus on backing growth-stage, tech-enabled companies in India or those primarily focused on India, Info Edge said in its filing. This vehicle, which is registered with Sebi as a category-II alternative investment fund, will have a tenure of eight years from the first closing.
For the quarter ended December 31, Info Edge’s operating revenue had increased 13 per cent to ₹819 crore, while its net profit for the quarter rose 10 per cent to ₹317 crore from ₹288 crore a year earlier.
The company’s stock ended trading 0.8 per cent higher at ₹1,051.50 on the BSE on Thursday.
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