(MENAFN- KNN India)
New Delhi, Jan 16 (KNN) Cornerstone Ventures, a venture capital firm specialising in SaaS (software as a services) startups, announced the first close of its USD 200 million second fund at USD 40 million.
The initial closure includes commitments from domestic limited partners, including family offices, high net-worth individuals, and corporate entities.
The venture firm plans to deploy investments ranging from USD 5 million to USD 15 million across 15-20 deals, targeting multiple sectors including financial services and insurance, retail, consumer goods and ecommerce, distribution and supply chain, and healthcare products and services.
Alongside this announcement, the firm welcomed Suresh Pareek, founder of pharmaceutical company Ideal Cures, as General Partner.
Cornerstone Ventures emphasised the strong performance of enterprise SaaS companies in recent years, citing examples such as Zoom, Salesforce, Shopify, and Twilio, which have generated over 800 percent in total returns with an annualised IRR exceeding 65 percent over the past five years.
This performance notably surpasses that of major internet consumer companies like Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google, which delivered approximately 300 percent return during the same period.
The firm's existing portfolio includes companies such as Credilio, Blubirch, Credit Nirvana, Dopplr, Flinfo, Intelligence Node, and Manage Artworks.
Looking ahead, Cornerstone Ventures maintains an optimistic outlook on the enterprise SaaS sector, predicting sustained double-digit growth through market expansion and competition with traditional technology companies.
According to Tracxn data, India's SaaS sector has grown to encompass over 22,000 companies, including 2,760 funded enterprises that have collectively raised USD 25.6 billion in venture capital and private equity.
The sector has produced 28 unicorns and witnessed 377 acquisitions and 28 IPOs.
However, funding in the space has seen a decline, with investments dropping from USD 6.6 billion in 2021 to USD 1.54 billion in 2024, though showing a slight improvement from USD 1.2 billion in 2023.
(KNN Bureau)
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