Equentis Wealth Advisory: Equentis Wealth Advisory unveils AIF to back startups in defence, consumer tech, logistics, fintech

Through the Rs 500 crore fund, the firm is aiming to capitalise on the increased acceptability among relatively smaller investors for startups as an asset class, its founder and managing director Manish Goel told ET.

The firm is aiming to back 40-50 startups with cheque sizes ranging from Rs 4 crore to Rs 10 crore.

“The success stories of startups achieving 20x–50x growth have created a sense of FOMO (fear of missing out) among investors. Second, there is now greater awareness and education around risk management,” he said, adding that the firm has around 30,000 clients with equity exposures ranging between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 50 lakh.

“For our retail investors, this space offers growth potential that is unparalleled in the listed markets. While listed markets have matured, startup investments can provide multifold returns, albeit with associated risks,” Goel said.

For the AIF, the firm has already raised commitments worth Rs 50 crore and has invested in a startup in the logistics tech space.

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Detailing the sectoral strategy of the firm, Goel said that Equentis’ investment focus will be set around consumption and technology. “Consumption accounts for 63% of India’s GDP, and sectors leveraging technology…are pivotal in this growth trajectory. Our strategy is to evaluate businesses, which form these two aspects as the core of their business,” he said.Over the last 12-15 months, fundraising activity at venture capital (VC) firms with a focus on early stage investing has been on the rise with several new funds, including micro VCs, coming up along with seasoned firms raising new capital.

Early stage investor Stellaris Venture Partners in November announced the final close of its third fund with a corpus of $300 million.

Anup Jain and Rajeev Suri, who left early-stage venture firm Orios Venture Partners as managing partners in September 2023, floated a new investment firm – BlueGreen Ventures – in November, aiming to raise $75-100 million for their maiden fund.

India’s former defence secretary Ajay Kumar entered the venture capital space in July with Mounttech Growth Fund, a Rs 250 crore fund focusing on early stage startups in the burgeoning defence, aerospace and deeptech sectors.