New Delhi, May 15 -- Kriscore Capital, a venture firm focused on early-stage investments in Indian tech startups, has announced the first close of its debut venture capital fund. The company is targeting a corpus of Rs 100 crore ($11.6 million) for the fund, along with an additional Rs 100 crore through a greenshoe option.
For the first close, the fund has secured commitments worth Rs 50 crore. Kriscore is raising capital from a curated group of family offices and high-net-worth individuals. It plans to use the funds to build a portfolio of 16-18 breakout companies that are leveraging technology to solve large-scale problems.
The sector-agnostic fund will invest in tech-driven businesses at the pre-seed and seed stages, with a preference for exceptional founders addressing key trends in India. These include the digital consumer wave, China+1 supply chain opportunities, global export of India's premium offerings, Gen AI-powered services, and the nation's Net Zero 2070 goals. The company has already made its first investment in a stealth-mode startup.
"India's startup ecosystem is exploding, and Indian founders are building generational global businesses. Apart from technical prowess and team strength, enduring entrepreneurship needs an ecosystem of support, including financial expertise, capital firepower, compliance mentorship, and strategic global connectivity to build exceptional businesses. We invest more than capital--we commit our time, expertise, and passion to help founders build something truly groundbreaking," said Nilesh Balakrishnan, general partner at Kriscore Capital.
The company said it will also provide value-added services focusing on critical but non-operational aspects of the founder journey, elements that are essential to derisking early-stage investments.
The fund's advisory board includes D Sundaram (lead independent director, Infosys Ltd), Shyam Srinivasan (former MD and CEO, Federal Bank Ltd), and Manish Khetarpal (founding partner, WaterBridge Ventures).
Kriscore Capital was co-founded by Nilesh Balakrishnan and K Bala. Balakrishnan is a seasoned venture capital professional with over 12 years of experience across the US, Japan, and India. An alumnus of the Georgia Institute of Technology and Duke University, he previously served as a senior investment professional at WaterBridge Ventures.
K Bala has over three decades of investment banking experience. Previously chairman and CEO of Lazard India, he later founded Kriscore Financial Advisors, a boutique investment banking advisory firm.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.