IPO advisory firm Makia Capital has floated its maiden venture capital fund to invest in pre-IPO and IPO opportunities in small and medium enterprises, along with select public market investments.

“The moat of the VC fund is to invest in three areas: pre-IPO opportunities, anchor opportunities in IPOs (specially in the SME ecosystem) and preferential issues for listed high growth companies,” said Shivanshu Birla, founding partner Makia Capital.

Makia Capital is raising Rs 200 crore (nearly $24 million) in its maiden outing. The fund is planning to make the first close by raising around Rs 100 crore by February 2025 to start with.

“We will have one year from then to make the final close of the fund. There is a green shoe option, but we are not planning to utilise it because we want to be selective in the investments we make,” said Birla.

The fund is looking to invest in nearly 20 companies. The fund will have an average investment size of around Rs 10 crore. “We already have soft commitments from family offices and UHNIs from the Delhi NCR region, Mumbai and Bengaluru,” said founding partner Sanchit Vijay.

The investment vehicle is a Sebi-registered category-I alternative investment fund (AIF).

On exits, Birla said that the firm is not just looking at a 2-3x multiples on these high growth companies as soon as the lock-in ends but are committed to staying with its portfolio companies for a long time – providing them with crucial support throughout.

“In case of SMEs, we draw roadmap for the IPOs, invest and connect them with right set of investors, list them and even help them migrate to the main board, do follow-on rounds as well”

“SME is the backbone of Indian ecosystem with 30% contribution to the GDP and employing 40% of the workforce – working with high growth companies in the space unlocks huge value for everyone- promoters, employees, investors and India as a whole,” said Vijay.

Besides IPO advisory and the VC fund, Makia Capital also provides multi-family office services. It claims to have more than 5000 clients and partnerships with over 1,200 corporate houses. It has a physical presence in six cities in India.