Team Startupcity

• Venture Catalysts raised Rs 150 crore ($18M) through a combination of primary and secondary shares.
• The funds will support leadership expansion, new fund launches, and AI-enabled due diligence tools.
• The platform manages $500M+ in assets and has backed over 400 startups, including multiple unicorns.

Multi-stage venture investing platform Venture Catalysts has raised Rs 150 crore (approximately $18 million) through a mix of primary and secondary share sales. According to a press release, the funds will be used to expand leadership teams, launch new investment funds, and roll out AI-enabled tools for due diligence and reporting for limited partners.

The primary transaction valued the company at around $200 million post-money, while secondary transactions were independently priced between existing shareholders and new investors.

Founded in 2016, Venture Catalysts operates deal-by-deal syndication via angel alternative investment funds (AIFs) and a venture capital arm that creates Category II AIFs in partnership with fund managers and institutional anchors. The valuation applies only to the primary investment, not to the total assets under management.

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The funding round saw participation from public market investors, corporates, and family offices, with new investors including Ashish Kacholia and group, Authum Investments, the Shah Rukh Khan family office, Aishwarya Rai, Hardik Patel (Finquest), Mukul Agarwal, Vinod Dugar, Utpal Seth, and LNB Group.

Existing investors such as Radhakishan Damani, Kamal Agarwal, Enam Securities, Capri Global, and founder-investors Aman Gupta (Boat), Ritesh Agarwal, Nirmit Parikh, and Srinath Ramakkrushnan also participated.

Venture Catalysts manages over $500 million across funds, with around $200 million deployed via syndication over the past nine years from UHNIs, HNIs, and family offices. Its current AIF portfolio includes 100 Unicorns, Beams Fintech Fund, Elev8 Venture Partners, and Spyre PropTech Venture Fund. To date, the platform has backed more than 400 companies, including Renee Cosmetics, InsuranceDekho, BharatPe, Wiom, Zypp Electric, and Kissan Konnect.