Unitus Ventures makes first close of Rs 300 crore Opportunity Fund for growth rounds

Indian early-stage venture capital firm Unitus Ventures announced on February 9, 2023 that it had reached a first close of more than Rs 75 crore for its Opportunity Fund, a growth vehicle with a target size of Rs 300 crore, or roughly $40 million. The fund is designed to provide follow-on capital to the strongest companies in the firm's existing portfolio, a group that includes several education and upskilling businesses.

The limited partners named in reports included Japan's Mynavi Corporation, which Business Today described as an education and jobs services conglomerate, as well as BVR Mohan Reddy of Cyient and Nandkumar Seksaria of the Govindram Seksaria Group, among others. By the time of the announcement, the Opportunity Fund had already backed five companies: math learning platform Cuemath, upskilling provider Masai School, education lending startup Eduvanz, workforce platform BetterPlace and gig-work company Awign.

Most of the new fund is reserved for companies that Unitus had first backed through its Fund I and Fund II. About 20 percent of the capital is earmarked for deals outside the current portfolio, aimed at Series A and later companies, with generative AI and climate technology named as areas of interest. Inc42 reported that the firm planned to announce a final close by the end of 2023. Managing partner Surya Mantha said most portfolio companies had continued to grow steadily despite a difficult funding environment.

Unitus was founded in 2012 and has invested mainly in jobtech, edtech, fintech and software. According to Inc42, its first fund closed at $21 million in 2013, and its second fund was raised in 2018 before adding Rs 75 crore from SIDBI's Fund of Funds in 2020. Business Today reported that jobtech accounted for more than half of the firm's investments and that Unitus had been the first institutional investor in over 80 percent of its portfolio companies.