Trifecta launches its largest-ever venture debt fund at ₹2,000 crore

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₹2,000 crore, the investment firm’s managing partner Rahul Khanna told Mint in an interview. The fourth venture debt fund, which includes a greenshoe option of ₹500 crore, is sector agnostic and has seen participation from new and existing investors. The previous three funds were ₹500 crore, ₹1,024 crore and ₹1,777 crore in size.

The firm has deployed about ₹6,000 crore across the three funds and has invested in 180 startups. Historically, Trifecta’s venture debt funds typically target companies at series A or B stage and beyond which are looking to scale rapidly. Venture debt is usually given after assessing the company’s ability or likelihood to raise the next round of equity financing alongside other factors such as cash flows and overall financial health.

“We are seeing a lot of green shoots in financing…there is a lot of activity in the seed to series A rounds…It's interesting that several funding rounds today have a combination of debt and equity which was not the case back when we started," Khanna said in a telephone conversation. Khanna added that the investment firm sees immense potential in emerging areas such as electric mobility, fintech, software-as-a-service and the enterprise tech sectors among other sectors including healthcare, manufacturing and industrials. Venture debt which is usually complimentary to equity financing, can be deployed by companies for a host of purposes including working capital needs, capital expenditure, and acquisitions.