The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has committed Rs 250 crore funding to three funds, including Stride Ventures that has received up to Rs 85 crore. In a statement on Thursday, Stride Ventures said it has raised up to Rs 85 crore from SIDBI, and that the funds will strengthen the deployment of its maiden Stride Venture India Debt Fund I.

”We are delighted to have joined hands with SIDBI in our journey to revolutionise venture lending. ”Their commitment of up to Rs 85 crore will further strengthen our deployment from our maiden fund Stride Ventures India Debt Fund I,” Stride Ventures founder and Managing Partner Ishpreet Singh Gandhi said.

He added that SIDBI’s support to indigenous funds strongly propels the country’s mission to be ’Aatmanirbhar’. Last week, SIDBI had tweeted that it would provide Rs 250 crore to three entities Stride Ventures, India SME Investments Fund and JSW Ventures Trust.

”Furthering the Startup India Mission, SIDBI commits additional Rs 250 crore to 3 Alternative Investment Funds under Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS) of GoI,” it had said. When contacted, JSW Group spokesperson declined to comment. Comments from India SME Investments Fund could not be immediately elicited.

Fund of Funds for Start-ups (FFS) was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 16, 2016 in line with the Start-up India Action Plan. It has approved corpus of Rs 10,000 crore for contribution to various alternative investment funds (AIFs) registered with Sebi. FFS facilitates funding needs for start-ups through participation in capital of Sebi-registered AIFs. As of March 31, 2020, around Rs 3,798 crore commitment have been made to 53 AIFs, as per the data available on SIDBI’s website.

Close to Rs 3,582 crore have been invested in start-ups by AIFs under FFS. Stride Ventures, in its statement, said in spite of the challenges brought upon by the pandemic, the company has been extremely active in deploying capital and has completed seven deals during this period.

”Further, we have seen no delinquencies or delays in our portfolio. We are excited to partner with SIDBI as we look to maintain this momentum and finish the year strongly,” Gandhi said. Stride had recently announced investments in SUGAR, a colour cosmetics brand, and robotics company Miko. Other investments from the fund include Stellapps, HomeLane, Ziploan and LetsTransport.

Stride has 10 portfolio companies and plans to invest in 25-30 startups for Stride Venture India Debt Fund I. ”We are seeing good revenue momentum in growth stage start-ups going beyond pre-covid levels thereby increasing the need for working capital which remains the core thesis of our fund. SIDBI’s commitment will help us accelerate our support to these exciting businesses to achieve their potential,” Stride Ventures Managing Partner Abhinav Suri said.