Rs 75 Crore Seed Stage Fund launched by SEBI-registered AIF Java Capital

Java Capital, a SEBI-registered Alternate Investment Fund (AIF) that focuses on early-stage investments, announced the creation of its first fund with a capital of Rs 75 crore and a greenshoe option of Rs 25 crore.

The Fund completed its initial closure at Rs 30 crore, and it anticipates doing a final close within the next six months. The recently established fund has already begun funding pre-seed to pre-series A firms and intends to amass a portfolio of 15 to 20 such businesses, with a first check size of Rs 2 crore on average. The fund will set aside 50% to make further investments in its portfolio firms that are performing well.

In firms seeking to raise pre-seed to pre-series capital, the Fund will take part and make investments as the lead investor. There is a fund that spans the deep-tech, SAAS, enterprise, FinTech, and climate & sustainability sectors; Java has already invested in four of the fund’s startups.

With three full-time partners, Java Capital is one of the few seeds and pre-seed funds that can devote adequate time, knowledge, and resources to each of its portfolio firms, expediting the process of attaining Product-Market Fit and business expansion goals.

Vinod Shankar, Co-founder & Partner, Java Capital says, “We are possibly one of the only funds with strong diversity with three full-time partners and are led by deep conviction in the companies we invest in. We are not afraid to lead rounds ourselves at this stage, which is again led by our deep conviction and contrarian to most other funds in this market.

“All three of us have collectively spent over 25 plus years investing in start-ups, Karteek and I worked at Kalaari Capital before starting Java Capital in 2020. We are willing to take outlier risks such as Agnikul – A company making India’s first 3d printed semi-cryo rocket engines or EPlane – Electric flying taxis. We believe as a pre-seed/seed stage fund if we can’t take such bets, there is no point in calling ourselves a VC.”