Saif Partner Closes Biggest Ever $400 India Fund; Rebrands to Elevation Capital


Saif Partner Closes Biggest Ever $400 India Fund; Rebrands to Elevation Capital

Influential venture and early stage investment fund Saif Partners has closed its biggest ever India focused fund worth $400 million. The company has also rebranded itself as Elevation Capital in a bid to emphasize on its investment ethos.

“Elevation reflects our investment ethos and re-emphasises our commitment to founders who help redefine our future. For our existing partners, it is a commitment of continued collaboration on our path-breaking journeys together. For our new partners, it is a promise to do all we can to achieve great heights together, from day one,” said Ravi Adusumalli, Managing Partner, Elevation Capital in a statement. The upcoming investments will be led and managed by Elevation’s five Managing Directors, Deepak Gaur, Mayank Khanduja, Mridul Arora, Mukul Arora, and Vivek Mathur.

Operational in India since 2002, Elevation Capital’s latest fund is the seventh of its kind; in 2012 the company had raised its first India specific fund worth $350 million. Known to back some of the earliest players in the consumer internet space, Elevation counts names such as Sify, Makemytrip, and Justdial in its portfolio; it also saw public exits with companies like Makemytrip and Justdial getting listed.

Currently Elevation has seven unicorns in its portfolio, including Paytm’s parent firm One97 Communications, food delivery startup Swiggy and online learning platform Unacademy. It manages total assets worth over $2 billion.

Elevation Capital’s new India focus fund comes at the heels of several other VC firms having raised India focused funds in the past few months. Sequoia Capital has raised two funds worth $1.3 billion in July and Lightspeed had raised $275 million for its third Indian fund in August.  Additionally Accel had closed its sixth fund in India at $550 million late last year.