A venture growth investor named Iron Pillar has completed the successful closing of a $129 million Series B and C stage fund aimed at funding Indian-based global cloud software startups. The Iron Pillar Fund II series of funds includes this fund.
The fund witnessed participation from new investors, including two endowments and a foundation, in addition to Iron Pillar’s current institutional investors from the US, Europe, and the Middle East.
Anand Prasanna, the managing partner at Iron Pillar, claimed that while there is enough funding available for consumer tech in India, there is no specific growth stage fund for Indian software. The new program will aid Indian software companies in realizing their full potential.
According to Prasanna, the foundation of the Iron Pillar is the conviction that significant technology companies will be founded by Indians for both domestic and international markets. The worldwide cloud market is expanding at a previously unheard-of rate, and we think that Indian entrepreneurs will continue to create some generational firms in this sector.
Since its formation in 2016, Iron Pillar has invested actively in a number of international cloud software firms with Indian roots, including Uniphore, Servify, CoreStack, Ushur, Jiffy, Sibros, and Pando. With a strong emphasis on Software as a Service (SaaS) and cloud infrastructure across important investment themes like cyber security and governance, DevOps tools, the future of work and education, and automation, this fund will continue to focus on supporting businesses that are revolutionizing the cloud ecosystem globally.
According to Iron Pillar partner Mohanjit Jolly, “The cloud ecosystem is fast expanding, and we are confident in our capacity to assist entrepreneurs to create market-leading enterprises in India and around the world.”
Prasanna and Jolly are in charge of the deployment of Iron Pillar’s global cloud fund.
Since Iron Pillar’s founding seven years ago, the company has established an exceptional track record by investing in a number of consumer technology and cloud software startups, including Uniphore, Servify, FreshToHome, BlueStone, Skill-Lync, and Curefoods. The company has a distinctive investment strategy where it leads Series B and C rounds for the firms in its portfolio before investing a second time, typically 5 to 10 times as much, in the businesses that succeed. Iron Pillar’s portfolio companies profit from the firm’s wide global network, which gives them access to potential clients, business partners, C-suite technology leaders, and extra sources of funding. Over $500 million worth of assets is now being managed by the company (AUM).
The annual recurring revenue (“ARR”) of SaaS companies based in India reached $12 billion in 2022, a fourfold increase over the previous five years, according to statistics from Bain & Company. Indian SaaS companies are predicted to generate $35 billion in ARR collectively over the next five years, accounting for 8% of the global SaaS market.
With our newest fund, Iron Pillar is ready to take advantage of this mega-trend, according to Anand. “The opportunity in India has our LPs (limited partners) fired up.”
