Mirae Asset to lead Krafton, Naver’s ₹6,000 cr bet on India’s early-growth-stage tech startups
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.South Korean tech companies Krafton Inc. and Naver Corp.
have launched a ₹6,000 crore India-focused fund to back early-growth-stage technology startups and have roped in Mirae Asset Venture Investments India (MAVI India) to manage it. The Unicorn Growth Fund is one of the largest capital commitments from Asian strategic investors into India's growing startup ecosystem.“Krafton has been in India for a long time and it's a key strategic growth area for them,” Puneet Kumar, chief executive officer at MAVI India, said in an interview with Mint.
“We felt that now is the time to double down on the Indian ecosystem. That's what has happened for both Krafton and Naver, over the years.”The commitments are part of a trend of institutional investors from the east looking to deploy capital in India after Southeast Asia failed to produce large-scale outcomes.
Last year, Japanese venture capital firms started setting up India-focused vehicles as they increased their exposure to the country.This was in addition to mergers and acquisitions including Mizuho Financial Group’s buying out of KKR's controlling stake in domestic investment bank Avendus for $523 million, barely a week after thelatter bought co-founder Ranu Vohra's 6% stake. More recently, Japanese bank MUFG acquired a 20% stake in Shriram Finance in a deal valued at $4.4 billion.In December 2025, after a two-year hiatus, SoftBank said it would once again be looking to back Indian startups, this time in the artificial intelligence sector.While there's no set target on the amount that will be invested through the new fund, it will write out cheques of $10 million-35 million to companies looking to raise Series B and C rounds.
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