BENGALURU, INDIA — Prime Venture Partners announced today the first closing of its fourth $100 million fund, with a first close of $75 million (INR 556 crore). Prime raised $72 million in its most recent round in 2018, $46 million in its second fund in 2015, and $8 million in its first fund in 2012.

It will maintain its high-conviction and deep-support investing style in early-stage technology businesses, focusing on being the first institutional investor. In addition to its current target areas of Fintech, EdTech, HealthTech, Consumer Internet, and Global SaaS, the company plans to expand into additional sectors such as Decentralized Finance (DeFi)/Crypto, Electric Vehicle, and Gaming Infrastructure Platforms. Prime also revealed that it is actively seeking a fourth partner to join its leadership team.

Despite the pandemic, the whole fund raising was conducted digitally, demonstrating Prime's sustained interest and support from institutional investors around the world. Fund The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, a top-tier university endowment, several returning family offices and institutions, and numerous global technology entrepreneurs are among the four investors, demonstrating the team's strong network of relationships across the industry in both the United States and Southeast Asia.

Prime was founded in 2012 by Shripati Acharya and Sanjay Swamy, and in 2015, Amit Somani joined as a partner. Prime's aim is to collaborate early with entrepreneurs and help grow world-class technology firms that are addressing some of India's most pressing problems, with the goal of bringing Silicon Valley expertise to venture investing. Prime is usually the first institutional investor, focusing on firms that employ technology to solve basic problems in novel ways.

After gaining deep conviction in entrepreneurs and their startups through a speedy yet thorough vetting process, the firm follows a philosophy of being highly selective and invests in only 5-6 firms per year. Strong product and technology teams with unique insights and the capacity to innovate quickly are a prevalent element among Prime portfolio businesses. During the formative phase of a firm, portfolio companies collaborate closely with all stakeholders, collaborating through the Product-Market Fit phase and establishing early growth.

The firm actively assists entrepreneurs with business and product strategy, operational metrics refinement, hiring, collaborations, marketing, and finance, as well as later capital raising.

Prime has a long history of investing in India's early-stage firms. All of Prime's funds are in the top decile of all worldwide VC funds of their respective vintages, according to Cambridge Associates benchmarks. Fintech, healthcare, SaaS, education, and logistics are among the industries where funds I through III have been committed. The majority of these businesses have since raised significant follow-on funding from other notable institutional investors in India, Silicon Valley, and Asia.

While the majority of Prime's portfolio firms are focused on the booming Digital India opportunity, the firm also has a number of companies that target the United States, the Middle East, and other international markets, or that start in India and extend to other countries.

The interactive learning firm Quizziz, which is utilised by teachers in 120 countries and is backed by renowned investors such as Tiger Global, Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang, and others, is one of Prime's notable portfolio companies. MyGate delivers apartment security software that is utilised by 20,000 societies and 3.5 million homeowners worldwide.

MFine, a digital health firm sponsored by SBI Holdings (Japan) and Heritas, has over 600 hospital partners and averages 12,000 daily consultations. Dozee, a remote patient monitoring business that is reshaping India's public healthcare infrastructure, NiYO, India's top universal neobank, and Sunstone Eduversity, a pay-after-placement management programme, are among the Prime portfolio's category-creating, high-growth startups.

Supporting Quotes:

Shripati Acharya, managing partner, Prime Venture Partners

"Many of India's category-defining startups, such as Quizizz, MFine, MyGate, NiYO, KredX, and WheelsEye, have partnered with us since their early phases. We are quite excited about the depth of entrepreneurial talent and the amount of ambition among Indian founders, as they bring disruptive innovation not only to India but also to the rest of the world."

Sanjay Swamy, managing partner, Prime Venture Partners

"We are humbled by the unwavering support we've received from several of our long-term LPs, as well as the enthusiasm shown by a small group of new long-term LPs who've joined us. While the previous decade laid the groundwork, the coming decade will be stunning as we see India's metamorphosis into a digital giant. We're honoured to collaborate with some of India's most talented entrepreneurs, and we're looking forward to working with many more category-defining technology company founders in the coming years."

Amit Somani, managing partner, Prime Venture Partners

"We believe the entrepreneurial ecosystem will drive this transition as India strives to become a top-5 global economy by 2030 and leapfrogs the rest of the globe through digital leadership. Prime has the commitment and expertise to invest in early-stage startups, and our goal is to support companies that will lead this once-in-a-generation shift. We see Prime as the go-to partner for early-stage entrepreneurs that are building category-defining businesses and are looking for not only financial funding but also an active investor with deep conviction."

About Prime Venture Partners

Prime Venture Individuals is an early-stage venture capital fund run by partners that have extensive experience as entrepreneurs and business owners. The fund, led by Amit Somani, Sanjay Swamy, and Shripati Acharya, is focused on building disruptive product companies out of India, and fills a critical gap in the Indian startup ecosystem by bringing a unique combination of first-hand entrepreneurial experience, operational expertise, and significant capital. Prime is a low-volume, high-belief, high-support investor who believes in supporting outstanding teams with unique ideas.

Quizizz, MyGate, MFine, MyGate, Dozee, NiYO, Sunstone Eduversity, KredX, WheelsEye, and others are among Prime's category-creating startups. Please visit www.primevp.in for further information.