BlackSoil, a Mumbai-based alternative credit platform, on Thursday, August 24, said it has invested nearly Rs 250 crore ($30+ million) across 17 deals in the first quarter of FY24, recording robust growth.

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According to the company, it doubled its deal closure in the first quarter of FY24 compared to the same quarter in the previous financial year and successfully exited five deals in Q1 of FY24. The company's assets under management (AUM) grew 50 percent year-on-year, it said.

BlackSoil has been highly optimistic about investing in new-age high-growth businesses. In Q1 of FY24, it primarily focused on a diverse and granular set of sectors, including consumer internet, deeptech, healthcare, EV and fintech.

A few notable deals include Battery Smart, Toothsi, Bounce Salons, Kaleidofin, Mozark, WeGot, and Seeds Fincap. Healthcare, consumer internet and financial institutions emerged as the top sectors for BlackSoil, with each sector securing 23 percent of the total funding.

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The strength of BlackSoil's backing is reflected in its portfolio companies as they collectively raised $60+ million (Rs 500 crore) in equity in Q1 of FY24, despite the challenges of the ongoing funding winter in the startup ecosystem.

"As a strategy, we focus on providing alternative financing solutions to enterprises that proactively tweak their business models to enhance sustainability and continue to receive unwavering support from their existing and new equity investors. At BlackSoil, we aim to identify such sector-pioneering companies and help realise their full potential," said Co-Founder, and Director of BlackSoil Ankur Bansal.

Some of the investments BlackSoil made in the year include new-age sectors such as battery swapping (Battery Smart), OTA travel (Yatra.com), discount broking (Upstox), healthtech (HealthPlix), deeptech (Tonbo Imaging) and fintech unicorn (MobiKwik).

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The portfolio includes investments in nine unicorns such as Upstox, Udaan, Zetwerk, OYO Rooms, and Spinny, as well as other companies like Curefoods, Blu-Smart and drone maker ideaForge.

(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)

First Published:Aug 24, 2023 5:22 PM IST