Multi-stage venture investing platform Venture Catalysts on Monday said it has closed a Rs 150 crore (about $18 million) funding round. The new round comprised of a mix of primary and secondary transactions.
The company said the fresh capital will be used to strengthen leadership, launch new funds, enhance technology, including AI-driven due diligence and LP reporting, and expand into key startup hubs globally.
The round saw participation from new investors such as Ashish Kacholia and group, Authum Investments, Aishwarya Rai, Karthik Sundar Iyer, Hardik Patel of Finquest, LNB Group, Mukul Agarwal, Shahrukh Khan Family Office, Sakal Media Group, Utpal Sheth and Vinod Dugar of RDB Group.
They join existing backers which include OYO’s Ritesh Agarwal, Enam Securities, and Zetwerk’s Srinath Ramakkrushnan, amongst others.
Founded in 2016, Venture Catalysts has backed over 400 companies including Renee Cosmetics, InsuranceDekho, and Kissan Konnect, among others. The firm’s portfolio also includes unicorn startups BharatPe and Pixis.
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The firm’s cumulative deployment across various strategies is approaching around $340 million, making it one of the leading domestic platforms, the company said.
“This fresh capital will deepen active deal flow, seed new fund strategies and enhance the technology backbone that supports our ecosystem—particularly AI‑driven solutions that enable investors and founders to collaborate at speed and scale,” said Anuj Golecha, Co-founder, Venture Catalysts.
The VC firm will onboard senior talent over the next few quarters across investing, product, and platform, as well as expand its Category II AIF suite and strengthen its on-ground coverage across India’s startup corridors.
Founded as an angel network, Venture Catalysts has a two-pronged platform that deploys deal-by-deal capital through Angel Fund AIFs and a venture capital arm that co-creates and incubated Category II AIFs with managers and institutional anchors. The group manages north of $500 million across vehicles.
The platform’ AIF lineup include sector animatic accelerator fund, 100 unicorns, growth-stage fintech vehicle, Beams Fintech Fund, growth stage investment fund, Elev8 Venture Partners, and prop-tech focused vehicle Spyre PropTech Venture Fund.
Edited by Megha Reddy
