Nayar and Banga said in an interview that Sorin Investments, a tech fund co-founded by private equity veteran Sanjay Nayar and Hong Kong-based Caravel Group’s Angad Banga, has raised $100 million from a range of family offices in the first close of its first fund.

The fund aims to raise $130 million, including a $30 million greenshoe option and has begun evaluating investment opportunities.

KKR co-founder Henry Kravis and Hero Enterprise chairman Sunil Kant Munjal, along with several other global and Indian family offices, participated in the fund’s first close.

“At the fund’s first close, we had seven to eight local and international family investments, including Henry Kravis and Sunil Munjal. We would invest from early Series A to early Series C investments,” Nayar said.

Nayar and Banga have contributed substantial personal funds to the fund as sponsors.

Nayar, a banking and private equity veteran who has worked in these industries for four years, said he did not want to invest in startups as an angel investor or family office but wanted to create an institutional setup to attract quality capital.

“Creating a fund structure gives you the flexibility to attract quality capital, not just two or three families. In a fund structure, you can build an institutionalised team of professionals and give them significant ownership. We don’t want to put. It’s seen as some small family office,” he said.

The fund will invest between $2 and $10 million and seek to create a portfolio of more than a dozen investments.
The Sorin fund comes as the Indian startup ecosystem is going through a global funding winter, but Nayar believes the trend will be short-lived.

Given Nayar’s background in financial services, fintech is expected to be an area of focus for Sorin.