InnoVen Capital goes global, backs Capillary and Simplilearn

Venture debt firm InnoVen Capital has recently closed two cross-border financing deals through its presence in both India and Southeast Asia.

These two deals include one with omni-channel engagement and commerce solution company Capillary Technologies and one with edtech startup Simplilearn.

InnoVen Capital first backed Capillary in 2014 and since then has backed the company several times. This time, it will help the company set up in the Singapore market. Simplilearn is receiving its support in both Singapore and India.

Innoven Capital’s investments and plans

These structured debt deals amounting to an aggregate of $6 million are holistic solutions that take into account global operations and the resulting financing needs.

Innoven Capital has raised $200 million from Temasek and United Overseas Bank and will be building a unified platform that can help startups from across the SEA region with global expansion plans.

The Mumbai-based firm now has a physical presence in Singapore, with a five member team. Taking leverage of the presence, it will be scouting for potential startups from the USA as well as from Europe. The company also plans to have a physical presence in China.

Speaking to YourStory, Ajay Hattangdi, Group COO and CEO India, InnoVen Capital, explained that they will be cautious about the startups they invest in, choosing only the ones which are backed by known VCs. Being sector-agnostic, they will favour startups with scaling capabilities and unique business ideas.

He added, “InnoVen Capital is an early supporter of emerging entrepreneurial companies across our current key markets of India and Southeast Asia. Many of these companies are looking beyond their home markets as they advance on their global ambitions. Going forward, we expect many more companies to take advantage of our cross-border platform capability.”

InnoVen Capital, which started operations in Southeast Asia late last year, had announced its first two deals in markets outside India in March ’16: Malaysia-based online health and fitness company KFit, and Thailand-based e-commerce fast fashion company Pomelo. Last year, the company loaned Rs 275 crore to 27 startups in India and in the last quarter, it has closed deals amounting up to Rs 80 crore.

InnoVen Capital expects to commit over $500 million in venture debt transaction to startups across the globe over the next five years.

Aneesh Reddy, CEO of Capillary Technologies said,

“We continue to grow 2X YoY with a strong focus on profitability. InnoVen has been an entrepreneur-friendly venture debt partner and their ability to provide financing at various stages of our growth continues to help us immensely in our journey.”

Venture debt

According to an EY report on venture debt, the potential market size for venture debt in India, China, and Singapore between 2015 and 2019 is $2.2 billion. The concept is still quite new in the Asian regions apart from India and China, which leaves ample scope for venture debt firms.

SIDBI, IntelleGrow, and Trifecta Capital are a few other players which render venture debt to startups, allowing them to perform better and get a higher valuation in the institutional round.