Participated · Equity · Dec 2025

ICICI Prudential AMC is the asset-management subsidiary of ICICI Bank, partnering with UK-based Prudential Corporation Holdings. The firm manages a diversified suite of mutual funds and other investment products for retail and institutional clients. To prepare for a public listing, the company completed a sizeable pre-IPO round and has now set a ₹2,061–2,165 per-share price band for its upcoming ₹10,602-crore initial public offering, which will run from 12-16 December with listing expected on 19 December. The planned IPO is structured entirely as an offer-for-sale of over 4.89 crore shares by Prudential, so the company itself will not receive those proceeds. The pre-IPO equity placement valued the AMC at roughly ₹1.07 lakh crore (US $11.9 billion), highlighting strong investor demand. Post-placement, ICICI Bank increased its stake to 53 percent, while Prudential’s share will be correspondingly reduced ahead of the IPO. On listing, ICICI Prudential AMC will become the fifth asset-management firm and the fifth ICICI Group entity to trade on Indian exchanges.

Participated · Series D · Oct 2025

SUGAR Cosmetics, formally operated by Vellvette Lifestyle Private Limited, positions itself as a cruelty-free makeup label known for its broad portfolio of color cosmetics covering lips, eyes, face, skin, and nails. The brand’s focus on cruelty-free formulations differentiates it within the beauty market and appeals to ethically minded consumers. Its sustained ability to attract capital from repeat institutional backers highlights investor confidence in the company’s strategy and market potential. In the most recent financing, SUGAR Cosmetics secured $4.5 million from existing investors, adding fresh resources to support its ongoing growth initiatives. Details on revenue, user metrics, or specific expansion plans were not disclosed in the article. The company has not publicly shared profitability figures or other operating metrics in this coverage, leaving financial performance undisclosed.

Led · Equity · Mar 2022

Games24x7 operates multiple mobile gaming products including RummyCircle, My11Circle and U Games and says it has amassed more than 100 million users. The 15-year-old firm is headquartered in Mumbai and positions itself as a multi-game platform in India. Most of its users play the fantasy sports title, but the company earns the vast majority of its revenue from its card-based game. For the financial year that ended in March last year the startup reported total income of $173 million and profit after tax of $50.5 million, according to Tofler. Company leadership framed the new investment as validation of performance and India’s online skill-gaming potential, while Malabar Investments highlighted the firm’s profitable business and strong acquisition and retention metrics. The company declined to comment on the valuation figure reported alongside the round.

Participated · Equity · Jul 2021

Gupshup operates a conversational AI and messaging platform (Conversation Cloud) that enables businesses to automate complex customer interactions with AI Agents across text and voice. Its product suite includes AI Agents, Click to Chat Ads, AI Campaign CoPilot, Agent Assist, Personalize, and Campaign Manager. The platform serves 50,000+ customers in 130+ countries and processes over 120 billion messages annually. Industry analysts such as Gartner, IDC, and Juniper have recognized Gupshup for its AI capabilities and market leadership. The company plans to use new funding to accelerate product innovation, scale AI Agent adoption, enhance sales velocity, and deepen go‑to‑market execution across India, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa. Gupshup says its solutions are driving higher conversions and revenue, lower costs, and improved customer satisfaction across marketing, sales, and support use cases. Gupshup provides a carrier-grade conversational messaging platform and a single messaging API for 30+ channels, enabling businesses to build conversational experiences across marketing, commerce, and support. The platform powers over 6 billion messages per month and serves thousands of large and small businesses across emerging markets and the United States. Customers can discover products, pay for them, track delivery, provide feedback and get support within messaging flows. Gupshup exited 2020 with an annual revenue run rate of approximately $150 million and has raised $340 million in 2021. The company plans to invest in product innovation for digital commerce enablement, expand go-to-market initiatives in mobile-first economies, and is exploring M&A opportunities. It has also expanded its executive team with hires across corporate development, international business development, sales, customer success, marketing, and IT, and will use proceeds in part for secondary share purchases. Gupshup provides a developer-centric conversational messaging platform and APIs that enable businesses to build messaging and conversational experiences across channels. Its technology powers over 6 billion messages per month across 30+ messaging channels and is used by over 100,000 developers and businesses. The company offers messaging APIs, a bot platform and builder tools, a scripting engine, omni-channel inbox, conversational AI, client-side software and other solutions for marketing, sales and support. Gupshup has reported years of profitable growth and exited 2020 with an annual revenue run rate of approximately $150 million. The company plans to use the new funding to rapidly scale product development and go-to-market initiatives worldwide and accelerate business-to-consumer conversational experiences. Gupshup has been a market leader in business messaging in India and is expanding globally, leveraging IP-based messaging channels that work consistently across countries. SMS GupShup operates a large social network and group-messaging service tailored to Indian consumers and has built a massive user base. The company focuses on group messaging and social networking products. It will use the new funding to drive product innovation, increase sales and marketing, and expand globally. Management and investors highlight an opportunity to expand beyond India into other high-growth emerging markets. The company has raised a total of $47 million to date following the latest round. Tenaya Capital and existing backers praise the team's execution and market position. Launched in April 2007, SMS GupShup operates a mobile social network that serves 26m users across over 2m SMS communities ranging from religious groups to sports teams and fan clubs. The company's core product is SMS-based community and messaging services, provided by parent Webaroo Technology India Pvt. Ltd. Management says user base and revenues have grown substantially over the last year, and the platform is seeing strong interest from carriers worldwide. The company plans to use the new capital to expand into new territories and roll out new features, including Mobile CRM solutions for small businesses and corporate brands. To date SMS GupShup has raised $37m in funding.

Participated · Equity · Sep 2019

Aptus Value Housing Finance provides home loans of Rs 5–25 lakh to self-employed customers for affordable housing and offers business loans through Aptus India Finance Pvt. Ltd. The company has about 40,000 customers across Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Pondicherry and has disbursed more than Rs 3,500 crore since inception. Its loan book is currently Rs 2,650 crore and has grown at an annualised pace of 60% over the past five years. Aptus aims to grow the loan book to Rs 9,000 crore by 2021–22 and management says the firm is now well-capitalised following the latest fundraise. The fundraising was completed amid a broader liquidity crunch in the housing finance and NBFC sector triggered by the IL&FS collapse and the Dewan Housing Finance default. Aptus Value Housing is a non-bank housing finance company focused on lending to self-employed and informal-income customers. It offers loans at ticket sizes of Rs 5–15 lakh and serves Economically Weaker Section and Low Income Group customers up to Rs 20 lakh. Cumulative disbursement for fiscal 2015-16 was Rs 700 crore, rising to Rs 850 crore so far in the current financial year; AUM grew from Rs 475 crore the previous year and the company expects AUM of Rs 900 crore this fiscal. The company currently has around 76 branches, about 42 in Tamil Nadu, and plans to increase to 80 soon and to around 100 by end-March 2017. Management is targeting a portfolio of Rs 5,000 crore in the next four years. Around 60% of equity is owned by private equity players; CEO M Anandan said proceeds will be used primarily to improve capital and ratings, expand network and AUM, with remaining funds for technology development and upgrades.