AIF for early-stage funding to be established by venture debt marketplace

In order to generate USD 90 million for investing in 100 companies in 10 countries and build a Singapore office, a Mumbai-based venture debt marketplace is now putting up an Alternate Investment Fund (AIF) in India.

“The AIF, a private equity fund in India, will raise money from Indian investors for the Indian companies,” Mumbai-based 8vdx founder Ravi Chachra said on the sidelines of the Singapore FinTech Festival.

“We have money from Indian investors and we are setting up an Indian AIF, an equity fund,” said Chachra, a serial entrepreneur and veteran financial investor with a specialisation in credit.

The 15-person Mumbai team will grow to 40 members the next year, and 10 more fundraising specialists will be hired for offices that will be created in Singapore, Delaware, California, and Singapore the following year.

He said that the business had already raised $10 million, some of which had come from modest investors who were willing to put as little as $10,000 into new businesses.

In order to reach their goal of raising USD 100 million over the next 24 months, Chachra and 8vdx co-founder Vijay Lavhale are aiming to raise an additional USD 90 million.

According to Chachra, he attended the fintech festival, which took place Nov. 2-4, to introduce his early-stage funding approach to businesses and entrepreneurs in Singapore. This would enable startups to develop their goods further and create a plan for raising money.

“We are a startup for the startups,” he said of the 8vdx which was established in 2021 after he exited his investments with major venture capital groups.

“What we have built is an ecosystem by a startup for the startups.

“The focus is on small investors and 8vdx has created three fund-raising stacks,” said Chachra. This was started in 2021 after he stopped investing with significant venture capital firms.

He said that 8vdx has already invested US $1 million in six Indian firms and another US $1 million in startups in Singapore.

“Our vision for the next 24 months is to lend 100 startups across 10 countries US $100 million, with 10-15 percent of that going to Singapore startups.

“USD 10 million of this target is already raised as 8vdx has hundreds of investors keen on supporting technologies,” said Chachra who has been working with venture capital groups and managing startup funding since 2005.