Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum, is prepping to launch an investment fund to support growth-stage start-ups

• ByStartupStory     |    December 20, 2022

Adar Poonawalla, the CEO of the Serum Institute of India, has sought regulatory approval to launch his Poonawalla Vision Fund, which will invest in growth-stage start-ups with a corpus of Rs 1,000 crore, according to Mint.

According to a source familiar with the situation, Poonawala applied to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to register the fund as a Category-II alternative investment vehicle (AIF). He will be the lone investor at first, and the fund will eventually seek investment from other external investors.

Adar Poonawalla and the Poonawalla family office formerly invested in several firms, including Wellness Forever, Mylab, U GRO Capital, Swasti Microfinance, and Wakau Interactive.

“As an HNI, they do not get to invest in IPO-bound companies and have other limitations when investing in unlisted companies; hence, they will launch a Cat-II fund,” the person added. 

The fund is planned to be sector-agnostic, with a focus on start-ups in fields such as green energy, retail, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, and wellness. The Indian start-up ecosystem is now suffering a financial crisis. Companies have been trying to raise finance at a reasonable valuation. According to a PTI report, venture capital (VC) funding was down 42% in November compared to the previous year.

With the global economic slowdown and a “so-called” funding freeze, tech companies have been seen laying off workers in order to maintain profitability. For example, Byju’s announced ambitions to rationalize 5% of its 50,000-person workforce. Other internet companies, such as Vedantu and Unacademy, have also laid off employees.