Despite a palpable slowdown in funding amid uncertain economic conditions, financial services group Avendus Capital is not necessarily worried.
“We believe this is an opportune time to back market-leading businesses. We have a very active pipeline of interesting deals in healthcare and IT services that we are currently evaluating,” Ritesh Chandra, managing partner of Avendus Future Leaders Fund, told DealStreetAsia in an interview.
Avendus Future leaders Fund is a late-stage platform launched in 2019 – its total assets under management currently stand at $250 million across two investment vehicles.
The firm has invested in a slew of portfolio companies in India in both traditional and new economy sectors and these include prominent names such as Bikaji Foods, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, and National Stock Exchange, among others. In the digital space, it has backed unicorns such as Delhivery (logistics player) and Licious (meat startup), among others.
The group’s private credit vertical was launched in 2017.
Avendus Group hosts both PE and private credit funds under its asset management business. Besides, the company offers investment banking, wealth management, and credit solutions.
Avendus Future Leaders Fund is currently planning its third fund, for which it will “approach investors only towards the second half of 2023,” said Chandra.
Even as he declined to divulge the corpus it is looking to raise, DealStreetAsia had earlier reported that it could be upwards of $300 million.
“The size and contours of the next fund will be crystallised closer to the launch,” said Chandra.
Edited excerpts of the interview:
