With a capital commitment of Rs 250 crore, Info Edge has established a new growth-stage investment fund, which is its first vehicle specifically designed for later-stage businesses. In order to increase the total corpus beyond the initial Rs 250 crore, the new vehicle, known as B8 Fund-I, may also raise money from outside sponsors.
Four early-stage investment platforms are currently run by Info Edge. These include Redstart Labs, which focuses on AI-led startups; Info Edge Ventures, which has raised Rs 2,300 crore across three funds; Capital 2B, which has a corpus of Rs 280 crore; and direct investments from its balance sheet.
Info Edge has provided early-stage funding to a number of startups through its venture vehicles, including Gnani AI, Ixigo, Shiprocket, Zingbus, and Truemeds. The company has made early investments in companies like Policybazaar and Zomato through its balance sheet.
The company stated in a regulatory filing that the new Rs 250-crore fund will support tech-enabled, growth-stage Indian companies or those with a primary focus on India. The vehicle, which is registered with Sebi as a Category II alternative investment fund, will run for eight years after its initial closing.
As part of its plan to institutionalize its startup investing platform, Info Edge announced in May of last year that its shareholders had approved a plan to invest up to Rs 1,000 crore in Info Edge Ventures’ third fund.
Temasek, a Singaporean sovereign wealth fund, manages the Info Edge Ventures funds in a 50/50 partnership.
Info Edge’s net profit increased 10% year over year to Rs 317 crore from Rs 288 crore for the quarter that ended on December 31, while operating revenue increased to Rs 819 crore.
