Harsha Moily’s $200 million climate tech startup fund NFC Ventures to achieve the first close in Q1 2022
- ByStartupStory | December 10, 2021
Nature Fix Climate (NFC) Ventures, a $200 million climate-tech-focused venture capital fund, launched by Harsha Moily, son of former Karnataka chief minister and union minister Veerappa Moily, and former Abraaj India MD Balaji Srinivas, hopes to hold a first close by the first quarter of the calendar year 2022.
The Bengaluru-based fund has received significant LP (limited partner) commitment already and is aiming to raise about $100 million for the first close, Moily told Business Today.
“We’ve spent a couple of months in the US, meeting investors. We knew that we are up against a few headwinds. First of all, it’s a climate tech fund in India, a nascent sector. Secondly, it’s our first fund. However, what we received was a pretty positive response,” he said.
Anchor investors in the fund will include high net worth individuals (HNI), the asset management division of a large investment bank, a fund of funds, and the venture capital arm of a large agri enterprise.
The category II Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) will have a third GP, based out in Israel, which is a market outside India the fund is interested in.
“We are looking at Israel on two fronts. First of all, it’s a more mature market in terms of technology. We would like to back startups there and open up the Indian as well as global markets for them. Secondly, we are looking at technology transfer from Israel to India. That’s the reason we need a strong GP in Israel, who will also double up as an operating partner,” he added.
Moily, who has an MBA from Thunderbird, The Garvin School of International Management (USA), previously worked in agribusiness, private equity, telecom, hydrocarbon, and agribusiness sectors with companies such as Amas Investments, Reliance Industries, and Cargill. Srinivas, prior to his 15-year stint at the Indian arm of Dubai-based private-equity firm Abraaj, worked with The Carlyle Group and Intel.
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