Sorin Investments set to launch second fund with a ₹2,000 crore corpus

This is a Mint Premium article gifted to you.Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.

Sorin Investments, which focuses on backing early-stage startups, is seeking to raise about ₹2,000 crore for its second fund, according to three people familiar with the matter.

"The discussions are in the early stages. Sorin will officially begin preparations in the first quarter of the next calendar year—around the January-March 2027 period," one of the people cited above said on the condition of anonymity, as the discussions are still private.

The proposed corpus marks an increase from Sorin's maiden fund, which was sized at ₹1,350 crore and is yet to be fully deployed.

"About 60% of that fund has been deployed across 12 investments. The firm expects to make another five to seven deployments over the next few months," a second person familiar with the matter said.

While the investment thesis from the first fund is expected to remain largely unchanged, the firm may also evaluate investments in sectors such as deep-tech, space tech and AI for the second fund, a third person said, confirming the above details.

"We are focused on investing and helping our promising portfolio of companies build out sustainable businesses. We have no comments on future fund-raising plans," a spokesperson for Sorin said.

This development comes as private equity and venture capital fundraising have gained momentum with several large investment firms such as Elevation Capital, Fundamentum, Transition VC and Exfinity Venture Partners launching funds since the beginning of this year. While dealmaking is resuming after a lull, the fundraising strategies reflect a more selective and conservative approach as investors navigate valuation corrections.

Sorin was founded by Sanjay Nayar, the former chief executive officer of KKR India, who has served on the boards of several KKR portfolio companies. He has also held senior leadership roles at Citigroup and served as chairman of Avendus Capital. He is currently a non-executive director at Nykaa.

Nayar is joined by Angad Banga, who played a key role as the first external investor in Nykaa, helping steer the company from its Series A fundraising to its public listing in 2021. He serves as general partner at Sorin. Other senior executives include partners Subeer Monga and Mandar Dandekar.

Both the Nayar and Banga families invested in Sorin's first fund, launched in 2024. Other key limited partners included the Munjal family office and Self-Reliant India, with about 90% of the capital coming from domestic investors.

Sorin has maintained a largely sector-agnostic approach, investing across direct-to-consumer brands, fintech, enterprise marketplaces, SaaS, health-tech and consumer internet companies. The firm has completed four transactions since the beginning of this year.

These include a $4.6 million seed round in AI services company Aivar, led by Sorin alongside Bessemer Venture Partners; a $7 million Series A investment in pain management clinic Nivaan Care; and a $6.6 million Series A round led by Sorin in home-construction materials quick-commerce platform HomeRun. It also participated in debt-relief platform FREED's $6.6 million Series A round led by Aavishkaar Capital.

With a focus on startups from Series A to Series B stages, Sorin has also invested in companies including Enmovil, Spike AI, Beacon, The Pant Project, Shivalik Small Finance Bank, Litestore, Uniqus and Venwiz, according to its website. The firm typically writes cheques of ₹40-60 crore from its first fund.

Rwit is a correspondent at Mint covering India’s burgeoning startup ecosystem and the venture capital and private equity firms that back them. Sitting out of Bengaluru, he writes on the new-age tech businesses that the city and the rest of the country seems to continuously be birthing.<br><br> While Rwit’s interests lie in covering the new wave of deeptech, AI, SaaS and consumer tech businesses, he’ll write on consumer brands and fintech (if ...