Avendus unveils new fund, eyes $350 million corpus

Financial services firm Avendus said it has launched its third Avendus Future Leaders Fund (FLF III) platform for which it has targeted a corpus of $350 million (about ₹3,000 crore), including a green-shoe option of up to $175 million (₹1,500 crore).

The late-stage fund, which will focus on the large cap space in private markets, intends to make 10-12 investments, with an average allocation of up to ₹300 crore (about $36 million) per investment, the company said.

The fund will target sectors “poised for decadal growth” such as financial services, consumption, digital and technology, healthcare, and manufacturing, Avendus said, adding that FLF III will “aim to invest in leading businesses and companies that set industry benchmarks.

Avendus’ two earlier future leaders funds have targeted companies with “robust strategic competitive moats, consistent execution across market cycles, strong operational metrics, and dominant positions in the market,” it said.

Investments will span both primary transactions and secondary ones, focusing on companies with fragmented institutional investor ownership, it added.

“Our approach is to harness the vast potential of late-stage private opportunities while co-opting the existing financial sponsor ecosystem. We continue to back differentiated, high-quality businesses with sustainable competitive moats and a clear roadmap to liquidity,” Ritesh Chandra, managing partner at Avendus Future Leaders Fund, said.

Recent exits from first fund (FLF I) include Lenskart Solutions Pvt. Ltd and the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd, with both generating about 4X returns for investors within four years, Avendus said.

FLF I has returned the entire investor capital well ahead of schedule and is tracking attractive returns, while the second fund has completed 11 investments to date and is planning to deploy its remaining capital over the next few months, it added.

Four portfolio firms on the FLF platform, whose diverse investor base includes prominent Indian and US family offices and high net worth individuals, and domestic institutions, are likely to list on the exchanges over the next 6-9 months, Avendus said.

FLF has a consolidated asset under management base of over ₹1,850 crore across its two funds, including Bikaji Foods, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, Delhivery, VerSe Innovation (Dailyhunt), SBI General Insurance, and Licious.

Set up in 1999 in Mumbai, Avendus is present in 10 cities across India, US and Singapore.