Backed by Ranjan Pai’s family office Claypond Capital and SIDBI’s Fund of Funds for Startups, the fund is led by former Premji Invest and IFC trio –Atul Gupta, Rajesh Ramaiah, and Pravan Malhotra.
Trident Growth Partners, an India-focused growth-stage private equity firm, has raised Rs 1,000 crore in the first close of its debut fund. The firm is now targeting a total fund size of Rs 2,000 crore by 2025, with plans to exercise a greenshoe option to raise additional capital.
The fund has attracted backing from prominent investors, including Claypond Capital, the family office of Ranjan Pai, Chairman of Manipal Group, as well as the Fund of Funds for Startups (managed by SIDBI) and the Self Reliant India Fund. Over 30 founders of successful companies, including Lenskart, PolicyBazaar, Livspace, KreditBee, Amagi, and Netcore, have also invested in the fund.
The fund will focus on Series B+ investments, primarily targeting high-growth, category-defining companies across sectors such as consumer, financial services, enterprise technology, manufacturing, and healthcare.
The firm plans to take significant minority stakes, either leading or co-leading investments in companies with strong fundamentals and scalable business models.
The team behind Trident Growth Partners comprises Atul Gupta, Rajesh Ramaiah, and Pravan Malhotra, all of whom bring extensive experience from their previous roles at Premji Invest and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
Gupta and Ramaiah both spent over a decade at Premji Invest, with Gupta leading consumer tech and software investments, and Ramaiah, a Wipro veteran, overseeing the finance function.
Malhotra, who was with IFC for over ten years, led investments in startups like Lenskart and BigBasket and currently runs the multi-family office Malacca Ventures.
The trio has collectively been involved in over 40 investments, including the likes of Policybazaar, KreditBee, Myntra, Lenskart, Flipkart, Purplle, FirstCry, BigBasket, Amagi, Moglix, with 14 reaching unicorn status and 8 going public or being acquired.
Our team’s extensive investment experience across market cycles provides us with a unique perspective on macro and sectoral trends. We offer more than just funding, bringing deep operating experience, a founder-first mindset, and a robust network to support companies in their growth journey,” noted Atul Gupta, Managing Partner.
“Our focus is on backing resilient, growth-stage companies with strong unit economics that prioritize sustainability and governance”, noted Atul Gupta, Managing Partner.
Trident has already made its first investment, co-leading a Series B round for Spotdraft, a SaaS company specialising in contract lifecycle management, and is in the final stages of closing its second investment.
The fund has a strong pipeline of potential investments and expects to make additional deals in the coming months, it said.
Source: www.moneycontrol.com