New Delhi, Jan. 12 -- Bengaluru-headquartered growth-stage investment firm Dharana Capital has raised $250 million (around Rs 2,254 crore) for its second India-focused growth fund, taking its total assets under management to $450 million.

The new fund will invest in next-generation, category-defining technology and consumer businesses in India, with a focus on companies that have the potential to build durable, standalone public-market franchises.

Dharana said the fund's limited partner (LP) base includes US university endowments, health systems, and other non-profit institutions.

Founder and managing partner Vamsi Duvvuri said the firm aims to back founders building long-term listed businesses, adding that India's listed technology market capitalization is expected to expand significantly over the next decade as more new-age companies go public.

"At Dharana, our vision is to back missionary founders building large, standalone, durable, listed businesses. We believe India's listed tech market cap will grow multi-fold over the next decade as more new-age enterprises go public. Our goal is to partner with a select few and play a meaningful role in this value creation," Duvvuri said.

Dharana Capital follows a long-term partnership model, working closely with founders and management teams to help scale businesses and prepare them for eventual listings in the public markets.

The new fund follows nearly four years after Dharana Capital closed its first vehicle in 2022 with a corpus of $160 million. The firm typically targets investments in 8-10 companies per fund, with cheque sizes based on the requirements of each business.

The firm has previously backed homegrown cloud-based restaurant SaaS platform Petpooja, tech-enabled services marketplace Urban Company, insurance technology platform Zopper, cloud-based digital lending platform Lentra, realty tech platform NoBroker, corporate travel and expense management platform Itilite, and indigenous aerospace and defence technology company Vayudh. It had previously invested in foodtech firm Zomato.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.