New Delhi, May 3 -- Ventureast, one of the oldest venture capital firms operating in India that has over $400 million (Rs 3,338 crore) in assets under management, has managed yet another rich harvest in a legacy bet that it backed more than 15 years ago.
The homegrown VC firm, which began investing in 1997, sold a big part of its remaining stake in fintech startup Zaggle Prepaid Ocean Services Ltd in a block deal on Thursday, exchange data shows.
Bengaluru-based Ventureast sold nearly 2.2 million shares of Zaggle, translating to about 1.8% stake in the company, and pocketed Rs 67.3 crore as a part of the transactions.
The sale comes nearly eight months after the VC firm cut more than a third of its stake in Zaggle during its initial public offering (IPO) in September. Zaggle's IPO was subscribed 12x, with its shares debuting at Rs 164 per share.
Ventureast, which owned nearly 9.14% stake in Zaggle before the IPO through three investment vehicles, had cashed in nearly Rs 57.2 crore at the time.
Post the IPO, the VC firm owned a total of 5.49 million shares in the company. With the latest sale, Ventureast now owns nearly 3.26 million shares or about 2.67% stake. This calculation, however, assumes that the firm hasn't cut its shareholding through the other two entities, shareholding for which would be less than 1% and is therefore not disclosed.
Ventureast did not respond to VCCircle's queries till the time of publishing.
The VC firm's investment in Zaggle goes back to 2008 when it took part in the Series A funding round of eYantra Industries, a Hyderabad-based brand merchandising and corporate gifting solutions company, along with Argonaut Ventures. Two years later, Argonaut led eYantra's Series B funding exercise with Ventureast joining the round. Ventureast invested in Zaggle, started by the founders of eYantra, in late 2017. Eventually, eYantra merged into Zaggle.
Considering the weighted cost of acquisition as disclosed in red herring prospectus, Ventureast invested nearly Rs 1.8 crore in the company.
So far, Ventureast has pocketed nearly Rs 124.5 crore and still holds another Rs 100 crore of stake in the company. The VC firm has already realised gains to the tune of 70X. Considering the unrealised gains as well, this would translate to a multiple of 125X on the invested capital.
However, the long holding period would shrink its internal rate of return (IRR), or annualised return.
The monetisation comes as Ventureast increases its focus on exits, as it nears full deployment from its sixth fund and starts mulling its next vehicle. VCCircle previously reported the investor was eyeing exits in 2024. In the last couple of years, it has scored exits from Zaggle, IndusOS, iNurture, Comprehensive Prosthetics & Orthotics (CPO), among others.
In November, Ventureast said it has exited its investment in US-based healthcare firm Comprehensive Prosthetics & Orthotics, marking its eighth exit since 2021.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.