SaaS-focussed VC firm Cornerstone Ventures has announced the first close of its second fund, which has a target corpus of $200 Mn, at about $40 Mn (INR 345 Cr) to back innovative B2B technology startups.
In a statement, Cornerstone said that the fund has seen significant participation from domestic investors, including high-net-worth individuals (HNIs), family offices, corporates, and other institutions.
The Mumbai-based VC firm launched the second fund in April last year with a , including a green-shoe option. At the time, it said that the fund would invest $5 Mn to $15 Mn in B2B technology marketplaces and software platforms across sectors such as financial services and insurance, retail, consumer goods and ecommerce, distribution and supply chain, healthcare products and services, as well as sector agnostic core technology innovations.
Meanwhile, the firm also announced the appointment of veteran investor and entrepreneur Suresh Pareek as its general partner. As per Cornerstone, Pareek’s collaboration helped it accelerate the first close of the fund.
Pareek is the chairman of Sukvi Ventures Family Office and has invested in about 12 early to growth stage startups across diverse sectors. Besides, he is also the cofounder of Elephant Canvas LLP, a digital fine art NFT marketplace operating under the brand NewartX.
Commenting on the appointment, Cornerstone managing partner Abhishek Prasad said, “We are incredibly excited to welcome Mr. Pareek to the team… We are even more equipped to help our portfolio companies navigate their growth journeys and unlock meaningful impact across industries.”
Founded by former Reliance executives Prasad and Rajiv Vaishnav, Cornerstone invests in early stage B2B tech startups. It launched its first fund of $50 Mn, which was deployed across 21 startups, in 2019. It counts startups like Mystifly, NimbleBox.ai, CreditNirvana, UniAcco, among others, in its portfolio.
According to Inc42’s ‘’, enterprise tech emerged as the third-most funded sector in India’s startup ecosystem in 2024, with over 167 startups raising $1.8 Bn.
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