Pre-seed stage venture capital firm Eximius Ventures on Thursday announced the launch of its second fund with a target corpus of $30 million, aiming to continue its focus on early-stage investments in India’s startup ecosystem.
Founded by Pearl Agarwal, Eximius closed its maiden $10-million fund in 2021, deploying capital across 23 companies with an average cheque size of $300,000. According to the firm, 60% of its portfolio companies have raised multiple up-rounds from leading global investors, delivering an internal rate of return (IRR) exceeding 40%.
Eximius has backed startups across sectors such as healthtech, fintech, frontier tech, media, entertainment, and gaming, with investments in companies like Eka.Care, Jar, Fego.ai, Fleek, Aspire, Vegapay, Alltius, Omnivio, Oyela, Stan, and Quicklend.
With its second fund, Eximius has already invested in four companies across the consumer tech and AI/SaaS sectors. The new fund will see the firm increase its average cheque size to $500,000, with a balanced approach of 50% fresh investments and 50% follow-on rounds, Agarwal previously told DealStreetAsia.
The firm aims to attract capital from a diverse set of limited partners (LPs), including high-net-worth individuals (HNIs), founder-investors, family offices, and global Japanese corporate venture companies (CVCs).
“At a time when funding is becoming increasingly selective, Eximius is doubling down on pre-seed startups to drive momentum in India’s innovation ecosystem,” said Agarwal. “We reject the ‘spray and pray’ mentality, especially at the earliest stages, and instead focus on backing bold, thesis-driven ideas with contrarian viewpoints.”
Eximius’s second fund launch announcement comes months after a report by DealStreetAsia, which indicated the firm’s plans to double the size of its second fund, likely slated for launch in the fourth quarter of 2024.
The launch comes amid a rising focus on early-stage funding in India. According to DealStreetAsia’s proprietary data, pre-Series A and Series A funding surged 82% to $213.7 million across 32 deals in November, compared to $117.6 million from 19 deals in the previous month, reflecting investor caution towards larger-ticket investments amid a prolonged funding winter and global slowdown.
