New Delhi, Feb. 16 -- OTP Ventures, a venture capital firm founded by entrepreneurs Suhail Sameer, Kunal Suri and Saurabh Vashishtha in 2024, has marked the final close of its maiden fund.
The Delhi-based VC firm, which focuses on backing early-stage startups, has closed the fund at Rs 500 crore ($55.1 million), surpassing its initial target of Rs 400 crore. The firm received commitments worth Rs 750 crore for the vehicle.
"The most satisfying part of the journey was a large set of early investors increasing their commitment to the fund," Sameer said in a LinkedIn post. "We could have taken that money instead of letting existing investors increase commitment, but it felt a betrayal of the trust they had shown in us (when we had nothing but a licence, and some hope)."
OTP Ventures had marked the first close of the fund, which was launched in April 2024, in August 2024 at around Rs 200 crore, about half of the targeted corpus.
The firm focuses on early-stage investments across consumer brands, consumer technology and fintech. OTP Ventures has so far backed companies such as feminine hygiene brand Plush, personal care brand Asaya, fintech startup Circle, and astro-tech platform LifeGuru.
The fund aims to invest in around 35 companies across seed and pre-Series A rounds. Cheque size will range from Rs 5-10 crore, averaging Rs 7-8 crore per company.
All three founders have previously built brands in sectors that are the fund's focus. Suri and Vashishtha co-founded social commerce app Simsim, which was later acquired by YouTube. Sameer previously launched and scaled the FMCG business at RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group before joining BharatPe as president in August 2020. He had also set up RPSG Capital Ventures in 2018, a $50 million (Rs 453 crore) early-stage fund focused on consumer and consumer tech.
Former McKinsey employees, the three co-founders have also invested in their personal capacity in India's startup ecosystem since 2016 through OTP Venture Partners, a pooled investment vehicle. This includes over 65 investments in companies such as Mamaearth, Rupeek, Traya, Fable Street, The Whole Truth, abcoffee, Hoop, and Bare Anatomy.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.