New Delhi: Norwest Venture Partners backed by US financial giant Wells Fargo has raised its 17th global fund of $3 billion, the Menlo Park, US-based firm said Thursday.
The early-to-mid-stage investor that has backed 700 companies globally focuses on three major markets – USA, Israel and India. It has $15.5 billion of assets under management.
“India will get a lot of attention from the firm,” said Niren Shah, Norwest Venture Partners’ managing director and head of India, in a conversation with ET after the announcement.
Shah highlighted that Norwest had been present in India for two decades. Its range of investments spans across sectors such as healthcare, IT services, financial services and consumer.
“We have been deploying $250-300 million per year in India. We expect to continue to deploy that amount going forward,” he said.
The new global fund has a lifecycle of ten years which means theoretically the entire fund could be deployed in India given the pace at which his firm has been making investments in this market.
Some of Norwest Venture Partners investments in India include Swiggy, Yatra, Five Star Finance, Amagi Media Labs, Mensa Brands, Off Business and Regency Healthcare. In all it has investments in 26 companies in India of which 20 are profitable, according to Shah, a chartered accountant and former investment banker. He is with the firm since 2007.
The firm also boasts 8 unicorns or companies with valuations in excess of $1 billion in its portfolio.
Norwest Venture Partners will invest between $30-100 million in each company that it chooses to back and it will look to make more investments in the consumer and healthcare sectors in the country.
Norwest Venture Partners’ previous fund NVP 16 was also a $3 billion fund.
The firm was founded in 1961.
“Our diversified investment strategy, long-term commitment and collaborative approach allows us to adapt to a wide range of market conditions and support founders and CEOs at every stage of their journey,” Jeff Crowe, senior managing partner at Norwest was quoted as saying in a release. The firm has a total of 20 partners.
“We are backing companies with cross-border business interests especially between the USA and India,” said Niren Shah. “There are companies from India who want to go overseas”.
According to Shah, the teams between Norwest Venture Partners’ three offices in USA, Israel and India will work collaboratively to identify companies and support them to develop their products for those overseas markets.
