Blue Ashva Capital Raises INR 454 Crore For Its SME and Startup Focused Fund The investors include family offices and high net worth individuals

Blue Ashva Capital on Monday announced that it has raised INR 454 crore ($60 million) for the initial close of its maiden small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) and startup focused fund.

The fund, Blue Ashva Sampada Fund—a scheme of Blue Ashva Capital Trust, a Sebi-registered Category II Alternative Investment Fund—proposed to raise a sum of INR 400 crore with a greenshoe option of INR 200 crore. It has exercised a part of the greenshoe option at the initial close.

The fund will be utilized to invest in businesses across sectors including financial services, technology, healthcare and consumer, among others, through equity, debt or any combination thereof. The fund will also back professional-turn-entrepreneurs and partner with global companies to invest in India.

Commenting on the latest development, Satya Bansal, founder, Blue Ashva Capital, said, "SMEs and startups play a key role in fostering entrepreneurship and generating large-scale livelihood opportunities. However, with so much gloom and doom around, most such businesses are currently going through challenging times. There is a need now, more than ever, to support passionate founders with optimistic capital that is willing to bet on the long term. Our Fund is committed to nurturing profitable and sustainable SMEs and Startups for a better India."

Blue Ashva Capital is an investment firm based out of Singapore and India. The venture capital backs sustainable and profitable businesses which are solving real challenges in core sectors such as agri, decarbonization, circular economy and SMEs. It aims to nurture businesses by bringing capital, technology and market linkages together. Prior to founding Blue Ashva Capital, Bansal was the chief executive of Barclays Private Bank in India for more than a decade.