Rocketship.vc Raises $125M in First Close of Third Fund

With the new fund, the venture capital firm remains optimistic about investing in India’s startup ecosystem, which in the past has received about a third of its total allocation, almost on par with its home market.

The latest fund follows its second fund of $100 million which was raised in 2019-20. This fund was backed by US investors, including Vulcan Capital, Adams Street Partners and the family office of Marc Andreessen and Chris Dixon, co-founders of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

Rocketship, which has made 20 investments in India so far, has backed startups such as NoBroker, Khatabook, Moglix, Apna, Teachmint, Quizizz, Jar and Animall. Its first $40 million fund was raised in 2015.

Rocketship started with seed and seed investments, before moving to Series A and B investments. “A third of our investments were made in India, a third in the United States and the rest in other countries . Fund II is almost fully deployed and we are currently investing from Fund III,” Rocketship Partner Venky Harinarayan said in an interview. turns, and they grow rapidly.”

He said the third fund would likely have a larger corpus, but declined to elaborate.

Since the second fund, it has invested in just over 20 companies while the remaining capital will be deployed for follow-on investments in its existing businesses.

In India, Rocketship continues to see a big investment opportunity in the “Bharat” wave, where startups offer apps or services to help the traditionally underserved.

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