Waterfield Advisors announces final close of its Fund of Funds

Mumbai, India, December 07, 2022: Multi-family office Waterfield Advisors announces the final close of its Fund of Funds I at INR 540 Crore. 

The fund was launched in early 2021 to raise INR 500Cr with the first close done in June 2021 at INR 200Cr. The fund is now oversubscribed, with the final close marked at INR 540 Cr. Till date, ~64% of the fund has been committed to five funds across private equity and venture capital funds with ticket sizes ranging USD 5mn-10mn and ~6% of the fund has been invested in one company as a co-investment.

Reflecting on the achievement, Siddharth Jhunjhunwala, Head – Fund of Funds, Waterfield Fund Managers said, “India is clearly at an inflection point of creating a sustainable and a mature PE/VC ecosystem. And to capitalise on this, we at Waterfield have not only been early movers but have also very thoughtfully stitched together a platform that provides private market investors an opportunity to invest in the ecosystem through an institutionalised setup which is backed by an experienced team and a thoughtfully constructed strategy. Our endeavour is to be a ‘one stop solution’ for both domestic and international investors, when it comes to investing in the growing PE/VC ecosystem.”

The Waterfield Fund of Funds platform was primarily set up to address the challenges faced by domestic investors while allocating money to PE/VC funds, and to help institutionalize domestic capital to allow family offices and HNIs to participate in this asset class by partnering with top quartile fund managers in India with required bargaining power for certain rights like preferential economics, LPAC seat, co-investments, and pro rata in subsequent funds.

The Fund has a very well aligned investment strategy with investor-friendly terms as carry and management fees are lower than the current market standards. Approximately 70% of the fund will be deployed into 5-6 PE/VC funds that focus on early-stage venture to growth stage private equity in India and the remaining 30% of the fund will be deployed directly in 4-5 companies as co-investments.

Rohan Paranjpey, Managing Director - Alternative Investments, Waterfield Advisors, commented on the milestone, “In India, the concept of Fund of Funds was unheard of and GPs preferred to raise international capital since international investors are large cheque writers & understand the asset class. As pioneers of Fund of Funds in the country, our aim was to bring the Indian investors up to speed with how global investors look at the market, and at the same time be a partner to GPs. Arriving at the final close of our first FoF, we have got a great set of GPs across all the stages of investing, and the portfolio is extremely thoughtfully constructed. What truly sets us apart is our deep understanding of the Indian PE/VC ecosystem. Since both Siddharth and I have been direct investors, we know the major players, & have witnessed the space evolve over the past 7-8 years. This understanding makes the Waterfield Fund of Funds unique."