AvendusIndia’s top investment bank for venture deals, is looking to raise about $300 million for its private equity unit, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
The Mumbai-based firm, backed by US private equity giant KKR, has established itself as the leading financial advisor in India, working with popular startups including Zepto, LensKart, XpressBees, CaratLane and Atomberg in their funding rounds last year .
With its third private equity fund, Avendus plans to write bigger checks more often, one of the sources said. The company raised its second fund of about $185 million in 2021. Its maiden capital was $50 million in size.
The sources requested anonymity to discuss private matters. A spokesman for Avendus declined to comment.
Avendus it first rose to prominence as India’s startup ecosystem began to take shape, capitalizing on the fact that many of its big-name rivals — including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan — initially paid less attention to the Indian market. This was partly due to deal sizes in the early days: they were typically under $30 million, not significant enough to generate significant fees, making it less attractive for many banner names to participate.
But as the Indian startup ecosystem has flourished over the past decade, becoming the third largest in the world, it has attracted global giants such as SoftBank, Tiger Global and General Atlantic, as well as sovereign wealth funds such as Temasek, GIC, ADIA, Khazanah , PIB and Mubadala, which have raised tens of billions of dollars in startups, small and large in India.
Avendus employs more than 150 bankers and was the top financial advisor in India last year. It has served on more than 30 deals, including M&A transactions, according to Venture Intelligence, a private market intelligence platform.
Over the past decade, like financial advisers elsewhere, Avendus has diversified its offerings, venturing into wealth management, credit financing and private equity. Last year, the company also expanded its financial advisory services to the Southeast Asia region.
