Athera Venture Partners, a tech-focused early-stage venture capital firm previously known as Inventus India, has received investment from HDFC AMC’S Select AIF FoF I Scheme for its Fund IV which is scheduled to close in 2025.
HDFC Fund of Funds will be a dominant LP in Athera’s ₹900 crore fund to be invested into fast growing tech startups operating in the Consumer Internet, Enterprise Software, AI and other emerging technologies.
Athera has already made investments in promising startups such as Ati Motors – an autonomous robotics company, Terra – a 3D immersive online gaming platform, ClickPost – software to help brands manage logistics, Cyn:Lr – a computer vision for robotics, Hyperbots – an AI automation company and Billion Hearts, creator of simple digital consumer products for a global audience. With these 6 investments, 30% of the portfolio is already constructed and the fund is already in the positive IRR territory. Over the next 18-24 months, Athera will invest in a dozen more such startups from its Fund IV.
“We are delighted that HDFC AMC’s Fund of Fund scheme chose to believe in our investment philosophy and invest in us! With this fund we remain committed to support the Indian startup ecosystem and are looking forward to backing many exciting and innovative founders that are set to transform the world with their solutions,” said Rutvik Doshi, General Partner & MD, Athera.
Since 2008, Athera has backed mission-driven entrepreneurs heading early-stage and tech-first startups partnering largely in Series A and Seed-stage funding.
Athera invests in tech-first business models across various ConsumerTech verticals (including HealthTech, FinTech, InsureTech, Media, Entertainment, Gaming, eCommerce, Devices, IoT, Transportation et al.), Enterprise SaaS (both horizontal and vertical plays) and Deep Tech (including Space, Automation, Robotics, Advanced Computing, Energy, AI/ML; including hardware + software plays).
The Athera team has advised/managed three prior funds with an AUM of $130 million+ and is now actively investing out of Fund-IV. Across the prior funds, the Athera team has been part of 2 IPOs and ~10 profitable exits. Athera has, so far, invested in over 40 companies category leaders such as redBus, PolicyBazaar, HealthifyMe, Euler Motors, Pixxel, PlayShifu, Unbxd, MoveInSync, Tricog, Sokrati, Insta Health, Savaari, FundsIndia, Aasaan Jobs, Truebil, Funtoot – to name a few.
