Nippon India Digital Innovation AIF Fund has invested a generous amount of 50 crore rupees in Endiya Fund II. The partnership between Nippon and Endiya will provide the portfolio companies of Endiya with strategic and financial support. The investment will also help in the enhancement of sustainable scalability and provide the companies with easy access to opportunities for growth and development.
Nippon Life India AIF Management (NIAIF) controls the fund of funds (FoF) of Nippon India Digital Innovation FoF. NIAIF is a 100% subsidiary of NAM India (Nippon Life India Asset Management). Nippon Life Insurance is the owner of 75% of NAM India. The FoF has rolled out a scheme of investing in about 15-20 funds of venture capital in India. FoF plans to invest in several horizontals like artificial intelligence, consumer technology, machine learning, internet of things, robotics and automation, and more. FoF also has investment plans for various verticals, like manufacturing, pharmacy, retail, e-commerce, education, health care, financial services, automobiles, electric vehicles, and more.
Endiya Partners of Hyderabad is a venture capital firm at its early stage. The firm provides investments to globally relevant Indian product start-ups that work with intellectual property. Currently, the portfolio of Endiya constitutes famous start-up firms like Myelin Foundry, SigTuple, Kissht, Steradian Semiconductors, and Darwinbox.
The fund manager of Nippon India Alternate Investments, Sachin Bid, said that Endiya has a marvelous track record of recognizing entrepreneurial talent and assisting founders in scaling the business of start-ups from the validation of the business idea and the market, to team building, refinement of business prototypes, acquisition of customers and partners, and follow-on financing. Sachin Bid also added that Nippon is looking forward to sharing the resources to provide support to the portfolio of companies of Endiya in their future funding and market development efforts in Japan.
The fund manager believes that the accessibility to the Japanese capital is essential for the growth and development of start-ups. Sateesh Andra of Endiya Partners said that there had always been a robust connection with the NIDIA team even before the investment. He thinks that the Japanese connection will be of immense help as Tokyo Stock Exchange provides lucrative liquidity options and opportunities for strategic investment, business, and technology partnership, and exit options to the start-ups in India.
Recently, Endiya Fund II has also received a commitment of 75 crore rupees from IFC (International Finance Corporation) of the World Bank Group. Apart from this generous commitment, the IFC has also arranged for an additional commitment of $10 million for directly participating in co-investment along with Endiya Fund II.
