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India-based debt round investor, Stride Ventures has disbursed over INR 200 crores across 10 deals that were sanctioned in 2021. The firm has also partnered with leading banks to provide an augmented financing facility of up to INR 100 crores to its portfolio companies as it continues to build innovative alternate financing solutions within venture debt.
Traditional banking institutions have benefitted from their exposure to Stride’s well-diversified portfolio owing to the firm’s continued focus on identifying fundamentally strong companies that have maintained zero delinquencies from the fund’s investments.
Since its inception, the firm has funded more than 20 companies through Fund1, becoming one of the most active venture debt firms in India during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The most recent deals have been with Spinny, a leading used car marketplace for INR 45 crores; Bizongo, a leading B2B marketplace for packaging solutions for INR 15 crores; and Infra. Market, the fastest unicorn in India for INR 50 crores. Fund 1 has also invested in leading healthcare and B2B SaaS companies this year.
The startup ecosystem in India is once again gaining momentum with large pools of capital available for investments as evidenced by the development of seven unicorns in the last 10 days. Founders today are increasingly aware of alternate sources of capital available to them to fuel the growth of their business.
Debt, as an asset class, is further obtaining interest amongst the founders as they look to raise capital while preserving dilution. Stride continues to be at the forefront of this inflection in India while providing innovative structures to tenacious entrepreneurs around.
Ishpreet Gandhi, Founder and Managing Partner, Stride Ventures, said, “The success of Stride’s first fund can be attributed to our ability to constantly innovate and bring novel solutions to the venture ecosystem. We wish to express our gratitude towards our portfolio partners, investors, and the venture ecosystem at large. With our first fund exceeding expectations and being oversubscribed, we are actively identifying opportunities for our second fund.”