Back News / Sixth Sense Ventures expects to raise Rs. 100 cr in next two months for its second fund
Sixth Sense Ventures expects to raise Rs. 100 cr in next two months for its second fund
August 2, 2018Sixth Sense Ventures, a consumer-centric venture fund founded by Nikhil Vora, former managing director at IDFC Securities, is expecting to raise `100 crore in the next two months for its second fund, named SSIO-II, which has a size of Rs. 350 crore. The fund has already received commitments worth Rs. 250 crore so far.
“We have already received commitments worth Rs. 250 crore from almost 70 investors. We will hit Rs. 350 crore in the next two months. We are just three months into it right now and we have done six investments. By August, we would have invested Rs. 75 crore,” said Vora, founder and CEO of Sixth Sense Ventures.
The SSIO-II fund, which will have an average investment ticket in the range of Rs. 15-20 crore, is looking to make investments in 14-15 different firms, of which six have already received investments. These six firms belong to a diverse set of segments like education, logistics, healthcare, oral care, packaging solutions and hospitality.
SSIO-II’s latest investment, of $2 million, is in a company named SaffronStays, which curates and manages hospitality operations, reservations, branding and marketing for private vacation homes owned by high net worth individuals (HNIs).
Sixth Sense Ventures’ first fund SSIO-I had made investments in 10 companies —two of which are in the listed space while eight are private. The firm claims that 90% of the participants in the maiden fund have also invested in the second fund.
SIDBI, which had invested close to Rs. 23 crore in SSIO-I, has committed Rs. 50 crore in the second fund, Vora explained.
“In the first fund, SIDBI had the first right on capital and had capped its return at 14% internal rate of return (IRR). In the second fund, SIDBI has committed `50 crore. Here they are not capping their returns. We have exited one investment — JHS Svendgaard Laboratories. This was our smallest investment. We sold it at 7x and that’s how we have returned money to SIDBI,” he told FE.
The rest of the investors in the SSIO-I fund will be receiving their money in the next six months, Vora added.
SSIO-I, which had a size of Rs. 120 crore and participation from 45 investors, has been closed for investments for almost a year now. Over the next few years, the fund will be focussing on exits, of which the first is likely to come in the next three to four months.
“I think there will be at least four to five investments which will be ripe for exit in the next couple of years. I think there will be one large divestment in the next three to four months,” Vora indicated.