March Capital Partners makes final close of maiden fund at $240 million

NEW DELHI: Technology-centric investment firm, March Capital Partners, has made the final close of its maiden fund at $240 million (about Rs 1,597 crore), and expects to deploy a significant portion towards India.

The Santa Monica-headquartered investment firm, which counts two prominent Indian startups among its portfolio – payment gateway solutions provider BillDesk and classifieds auto portal CarTrade.com, has already invested about $100 million across 15 ventures across the globe.

When contacted by ET, Sumant Mandal, partner at March Capital Partners said that the investment firm will continue to explore investment opportunities in Asia’s third-largest economy, and had held conversations with potential portfolio companies.

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“We believe that India is one of the fastest growing internet economies in the world, and we specifically focus on consumer markets that are growing rapidly in terms of adoption in the region, as well as the technologies that are enabling said adoption,” Mandal said in response to an email questionnaire.

Founded by Mandal, Jim Armstrong, both of who were with Clearstone Venture Partners, noted investment banker Jamie Montgomery and Gregory Milken, the stage-agnostic firm typically writes cheques of between $1 million-$20 million.

“We are looking to invest in companies that will serve the next billion people coming online, the next generation of software that powers the internet. We are also focusing on companies that are using big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning to gain a competitive advantage – those types of technologies are represented deeply in our portfolio," Mandal said.

In January earlier this year, the investment firm co-led $145 million funding round in CarTrade, along with Temasek, the investment firm backed by the Government of Singapore.

Proceeds from that round were used by the Mumbai-based online auto portal to bankroll its acquisition of rival CarWale from German media conglomerate Axel Springer, a deal estimated at $100 million, as well as towards product expansion.

March Capital was also reported to have diluted its stake in BillDesk, an investment it had made as Clearstone Venture Partners, after private equity major General Atlantic led a funding round in the Mumbai-based company in March earlier this year, and which valued it at about $600 million.

“India has started to show great potential including exits. We have just started to invest in our companies, and as long term capital, are very happy to see our investee companies grow and use our capital in positive avenues,” Mandal said.

Earlier this month, it was reported that the investment firm had led a $4.5 million Series A round in Berlin-based eSports startup Dojo Madness.