Mela Ventures Trust, an early-stage venture capital firm started by Mindtree co-founders, has raised Rs 320 crore marking the final close of its maiden fund. The firm intends to invest in 16-18 early-stage start-ups.

The fund – MV Core Tech Fund-I – raised the proceeds from Nippon India Digital Innovation AIF, a subsidiary of NSE-listed Nippon Life India Asset Management, and SIDBI Fund of Funds for Startups. A group of global investors including government institutions, technology professionals and family offices also invested in the fund.

Mela Ventures Trust was started by Krishnakumar Natarajan and Parthasarathy N.S, after they quit Mindtree following its acquisition by Larsen & Toubro in June 2019. The fund is backed by institutional investors, global technology leaders and start-up investors.

“About 40% of our fund is from high networth individuals and chief executive officers from the tech sector and it speaks volumes about the value the start-up ecosystem has created over the last half-a-decade. Our fund is focused on B2B start-ups as, given our experience we can add value in working with enterprises. This gives us immense confidence that we would be able to give some good exits to our investors, Parthasarathy N.S, Managing Partner at Mela Ventures said.

Mela Ventures’ would invest in early-stage business-to-business startups, and in select Series A and B stage start-ups, with cheque sizes of up to $2 million.