GVFL Ltd, India’s pioneer venture capital company today on the completion of its 17 years of successful seed and early stage investing shared its growth plans till 2010.
GVFL plans to enhance its existing fund portfolio by setting up Rs. 250 crore SME Technology Venture Fund, which would invest in both early and growth stage companies. “From this SME Fund GVFL will not only explore new investment opportunities but also provide additional investments to its existing investee companies who have good growth potential.” Said Mr. Vishnu Varshney, CEO of GVFL Ltd. GVFL is also looking at setting up a Tourism Fund in the near future and had started the initial planning process for the same. This fund with will be set up in association with the Government of Gujarat.
GVFL also plans to increase the corpus of its Gujarat IT Fund from existing Rs. 29 crores to Rs. 50 crores and plans 2 more investments from the IT Fund by end of 2007. GVFL has already invested in Rapid Radio and CEON solutions in the past 6 months. GVFL is also planning to make 2 more investments in biotech firms by this year end from Gujarat Biotechnology Venture Fund (GBVF). GVFL had made its first investment in celestial biological Ltd. from this fund. “VCs have pumped $ 508 million into Indian start-ups during 2006; this figure is predicted to rise to $ 1 billion in 2007. We feel that the booming market is the correct time to not just increase the funds but also to take up innovative investment opportunities. We are currently evaluating several exciting proposals, which we would soon be finalizing for investment.” adds Mr. Varshney.
GVFL has divested out of 52 of 60 investee companies, out of which 7 divestments have happened in the past year. The exits were made through strategic buyouts by promoters or other investors. GVFL also plans to close its 2 funds i.e. GVCF 1995 and GVCF 1997 by March 2009 at a substantial IRR.
Source : Money Control