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Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Paytm, on Monday announced the launch of his maiden fund named ‘VSS Investments’ with a target corpus of Rs 30 crore. The fund will focus on start-ups related to artificial intelligence (AI), electric vehicles (EV), environment, and sustainability-related sectors that are incubated in India.
The total size of the Category II Alternate Investment Fund (AIF) is worth Rs 20 crore with a green shoe option of Rs 10 crore.
“The Indian start-up ecosystem has some of the brightest entrepreneurs in the world, and we have the potential to become a powerhouse of advanced technology and AI-driven innovations. The launch of this fund is a continuation of my belief in supporting young and promising Indian founders, aligned with the fact that technology has a huge role to play in the development of the country,” Sharma said.
The fund, which has been approved by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), would see Sharma along with other external investors as contributors to the fund.
VSS Investco, an entity owned and controlled by Sharma, has sponsored the fund.
Through the entity, Sharma has invested across 21 start-ups including edtech firm LeverageEdu, electric scooter manufacturer Ola Electric, among others, as per data from market intelligence platform Tracxn.
Sharma’s Paytm saw its net loss narrow to Rs 290.5 crore on a consolidated basis in Q2FY24 from Rs 357 crore in Q1FY24. The company had posted a loss of Rs 571.1 crore in the second quarter of the last financial year (Q2FY23).
The fintech firm saw its total income rise 8 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter basis from Rs 2,464.2 crore in Q1FY24 to Rs 2,662.5 crore in Q2FY24.
On a year-on-year basis, the company’s total income rose 32.2 per cent from Rs 2,013.6 crore.
The company reported a 7.6 per cent quarter-on-quarter increase in revenue from operations to Rs 2,518.6 crore in Q2FY24, up from Rs 2,341.6 crore in Q1FY24.
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