Asset management firm Rockstud Capital launches Rs 300 crore fund to invest in startups

Asset management firm Rockstud Capital has set up a Rs 300 Cr fund, Rockstud Capital Investment Fund II, to invest in Indian startups. This is a Category I Alternative Investment Fund – Angel Fund (Cat-I AIF -Angel Fund) which received a license from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) last month for its AIF Category I Angel Fund, the company said on Tuesday, 14 March.

Rockstud Capital had launched its first fund Rockstud Capital Investment Fund–Series I in 2018, which invested in Pre-Series A stage startups and NSE-listed equities.  

The new fund Rockstud Capital Investment Fund II targets to invest in 25 companies across digitalisation, sustainability, financial inclusion, consumption, and health sectors. The ticket size would be between Rs 1 crore to 10 crore.

Rockstud Capital was started in 2017 by Abhishek Agarwal. The investment firm focuses on Indian companies via SEBI-regulated products. Some of its portfolio companies include Money Club, Lilac Insights, BigHaat, Instoried, Knorish, Fabheads, and NOTO. 

“As India moves towards becoming a $5 Tn economy, we feel this is an opportune time to enter the space, especially when companies are finding it difficult to raise capital. The fund will focus on partnering and identifying early-stage growth companies through a well-defined process and deep network to foster partnerships with founders building scalable businesses with a clear focus on profitability,” the founder and managing partner of Rockstud Capital, Abhishek Agarwal, said.

Meanwhile, due to the challenging global environment, investment is still slow in India, and many experts predict that the country won't start to warm up before the end of 2023. Experts say that the rate of deal-making in the sector has slowed noticeably, and  the real cause of the funding slowdown is the global macroeconomic and geopolitical headwinds, inflation, and the war in Ukraine.

According to data from GlobalData, a total of 87 venture capital deals worth $696.2 million were announced during the first month of 2023. There were 101 venture capital deals happened in India worth $905 million in the previous month, a decrease of 13.9 per cent and 23.1 per cent by volume and value, respectively.