Funding Alert

SME fund Neev II plans to raise $2,000 cr by June

• ByStartupStory     |    January 3, 2023

Neev II, a government-backed SME (small and medium company) fund with an emphasis on climate and sustainability, is on track to meet its final funding target of up to 2,000 crore by June, according to its senior executive.

Akshay Panth, chief investment of Neev Funds, said in an interview, “We are targeting between  ₹1,750 and  ₹2,000 crore to be closed in the next six months…through June. That’s where we will likely end Neev II. We started deploying from that and have deployed about a quarter of the fund already.”The fund, which was established in May 2021, raised about 1,000 of the intended 2,000 crores. According to a March article from VCCircle, the fund has pledges totaling over Rs. 1,500 crore to invest in companies that promote environmental protection, sustainability, and social impact.

Neev II (SVL-SME fund) is now in preliminary talks with a number of multilateral and institutional investors. The European Investment Bank (EIB), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), the SRI Fund, and the State Bank of India have all made commitments to it thus far. 

SBICap Ventures Ltd, a division of SBI Capital Markets Ltd, manages and operates the Neev funds. The UK government also backs the fund.

It has so far invested money in four startups: GPS Renewables, Chakr Innovation, which makes emission-control devices, Blue Planet, and Hygenco Green Energies, which received its most recent investment in October. 

The investment topic for Neev II will center on electric mobility, circular economy, sustainable agriculture, waste management, water, and electric cars, or EVs.

Panth said, “We have a very strong pipeline of around $300 million across 20 firms over a five-year period which we are sifting through to figure out what and where we to invest…in strategies of climate adaptation and climate mitigation. Those are the two buckets.”

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