India-focused fund Alicorn set to be launched

Morphosis Venture Capital Limited — an early-stage venture firm based out of Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and licensed by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) — is all set to launch its aptly called India-focused fund Alicorn next week.

Morphosis, an enabler of structural change, is laying the foundation blocks as an institution to reimagine the early-stage investing model with a strong focus on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices.

Amit Zutshi, founder and managing partner of Morphosis Venture Capital Limited that is focusing on stringent corporate governance norms said, “Our fund has a targeted corpus of $100 million (Dh367.3 million) and is focused on early-stage business-to-business, ESG-positive tech-based start-ups with a significant Indian connection and a compelling international appeal, with particular applicability to the Middle East, in addition to the large domestic opportunity in India.”

The firm invests in technology start-ups in large and rapidly digitising areas, such as b2b commerce, enterprise software and applications, fintech, healthtech, mobility tech, clean and climate tech, agritech, automation tech, among others.

The soon-to-be-launched Alicorn has already made a start on investing. “Our experience and connectivity in the start-up ecosystem have allowed us to include two excellent investments in our India fund whose valuations have already more than doubled,” said Zutshi, who brings over 25 years of experience in the UK, India and the Middle East in deal-making and value creation — all the way to launching an initial public offering (IPO).