Synopsis The companies include robotics startup Genrobotics, cybersecurity firm Sequretek, customer experience analytics startup Clootrack, digital business publication Inc42, digital media startup Inntot, and healthcare startup NeuroEquilibrium. ETtech Early-stage investment firm Unicorn India Ventures is selling its stake in six startups to a US-based investor for Rs 50 crore , doubling returns for its limited partners (LPs). The companies include robotics startup Genrobotics , cybersecurity firm Sequretek , customer experience analytics startup Clootrack , digital business publication Inc42 , digital media startup Inntot, and healthcare startup NeuroEquilibrium. These were investments from the firm's first tranche of funds of Rs 100 crore, raised in 2016 and deployed across 17 early-stage startups. This fund’s lifecycle ends early next year. Unicorn India Ventures' partner Bhaskar Majumdar told ET that the firm had to write off its investment in three companies out of the 17 startups. The firm exited two companies, ecommerce personalisation startup Boxx. ai in 2019 and pharmaceutical supply chain startup Pharmarack in 2021. Discover the stories of your interest Blockchain 5 Stories Cyber-safety 7 Stories Fintech 9 Stories E-comm 9 Stories ML 8 Stories Edtech 6 Stories Majumdar said the VC firm would stay invested in two of its most successful companies from Fund I, including fintech firms Open and Smartcoin, while the rest of the exits from the first fund are still being figured out. Majumdar declined to disclose the name of the US-based investor but said it was a Delaware-based fund “run by some of the most successful tech entrepreneurs in the US. ” “Our broad thesis is that we go in very early,” said Majumdar. “We position ourselves as the first institutional investor. Typically, we sign small cheques of Rs 2-3 crore, and only 20% of the fund will be used to create a portfolio and the rest of it is for backing the winners in the portfolio,” he said. The firm started its second fund in 2020 with a corpus of Rs 300 crore, with which it has created a portfolio of 18 startups. “In the first fund, even before reaching the end of the life cycle, we have already returned the full capital back to the investors,” Majumdar said. “Within the next few days, we will be returning almost another full return to the investors. Before the completion of the seventh year, we would have returned 2x back to the investors and, most importantly, the assets we still have is worth another 5x. ” The development comes at a time when exits for Indian startups is getting harder, as global macro headwinds continue to affect newer fundraising opportunities. If market conditions continue, the pressure will be on venture capital firms which haven't raised fresh corpus, to deliver outcomes, in line with their fund cycle, ET had reported on July 28 . Further, even as venture capitalists are in no rush to deploy funds, India’s early-stage startups have unprecedented dry powder waiting to be invested, with the likes of noted investors including Accel , Elevation Capital, Sequoia’s accelerator programme Surge, Axilor and Athera Venture Partners (previously Inventus Capital), raking in their new funds. While the slowdown in funding has impacted late and growth stage investments, early-stage investments also continue to be largely unaffected with the downturn. Funding for early-stage startups dipped marginally to $839 million in the April-June period, from $856 million in the previous quarter, but it continues to be 30% higher than the total funding for the segment in the last quarter of 2021, according to Venture Intelligence. This is despite overall funding in Indian startups having dipped by 37% in the second quarter of this year to $6. 9 billion, ET reported on July 5 . Tuesday, 23 Aug, 2022 Experience Your Economic Times Newspaper, The Digital Way! Read Complete Print Edition » Front Page Pure Politics Brands & Companies ET Markets More Centre Revamps Overseas Investment Framework Under the new rules, the government has provided a specific definition for overseas portfolio investment (OPI), making it clear that such investments can be made in both listed and unlisted space. Bain Capital and Advent Plan to Exit Quest Global Private equity firms Bain Capital and Advent International are looking to exit Quest Global Services, six years after investing in the engineering outsourcing firm, said people aware of the matter. D St Indices Tank 1. 5% on Concerns Over Fed Moves India’s equity indices dropped 1. 5%, extending losses to the second straight day, as renewed concerns that the US Federal Reserve will be steadfast in its battle against inflation ate into some of the recent gains. Read More News on unicorn india ventures six startups rs 50 crore limited partners genrobotics sequretek clootrack inc42 accel Stay on top of technology and startup news that matters. Subscribe to our daily newsletter for the latest and must-read tech news, delivered straight to your inbox. . . . more less ETPrime stories of the day Logistics Surplus containers: Is this the beginning of the end of the shipping industry’s bull run? 8 mins read Electric vehicles Swapping is a contender in the EV charging race. But it needs to cross the interoperability hurdle. 10 mins read Policy and regulations From being ‘Orwellian’ to solving the ‘Gordian Knot’, can the new PDP bill meet old expectations? 7 mins read Subscribe to ETPrime.