Deal Talk: Binny Bansal plans $400 mn VC fund; Cars24 raises $52 mn

TechCircle brings you a round-up of technology investment and M&A deals reported from across newsrooms.

Binny Bansal

Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal is all set to launch a venture capital fund with a target corpus of $300-400 million, The Economic Times reported. 

The fund will focus primarily on Indian startups needing growth capital, the report said. It will also look at backing Southeast Asian startups. 

The fund is expected to be launched by the end of this year and will be based out of Singapore.

Bansal, who quit his role as group CEO of Flipkart last year, will be a general partner in the fund, along with being one of the anchor investors. There could also be other backers like a fund of funds and family offices joining as anchor investors, the report said.

The report further said Bansal has roped in former Flipkart executive Rajneesh Baweja to handle finance and legal functions at the fund. 

Cars24

Gurugram-based Cars24, which runs a used cars marketplace, has raised $52 million in an ongoing Series D round, Entrackr reported citing RoC filings of the company.

Dubai-based cargo company KCK FZE has invested around $25 million while existing investor Kingsway FCI invested $10 million, the report said.

Other investors who participated in the round are Sequoia Capital India, Chicago-based global asset management  firm Euler Capital, New York-based Exor Seeds and high net worth individuals including Scott Bankcraft Kapnick, CEO, Highbridge Capital Management LLC and HPS Investment Partners LLC. 

Last month, the startup said in a statement that former Indian cricket team captain MS Dhoni had invested an undisclosed amount in their Series D round of funding.

In July last year, the company had raised $50 million from venture capital firm Sequoia and existing investors Kingsway FCI Fund and KCK Global.

According to media reports, the company is also in the middle of downscaling operations and cutting down on its workforce in an effort to cut costs. As part of this, the company is reported to have shut down outlets in Delhi.