Mumbai-based Venture Capital (VC) firm Asha Ventures announced on December 14 that it had raised $50 million or Rs 416 crore for the first close of its debut fund Asha Ventures Fund-I. In a statement, the firm noted that the fund will have a target corpus of $100 million or Rs 833 crore, which will be completed within the next 12 months.

Asha Ventures plans to invest funds into four to five early growth-stage startups across sectors of financial services, healthcare, education, climate, and agriculture every year for about four years, with cheque sizes ranging from $2 million to $10 million and the tenure of the fund at 8.5 years. 

According to the statement, the limited partners in the Fund include the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), Self Reliant India (SRI) and the family offices of Ajay Parekh of Pidilite Industries and Nimesh Kampani of JM Financial Group.

Founded by former Morgan Stanley India head and president Vikram Gandhi and former Genpact president and chief executive Pramod Bhasin in 2015, the VC firm invested in startups like TrueMeds, Adda247, Vastu Housing Finance, Varthana Education Finance, and Nepra.