Avendus Launches Future Leaders Fund III with a Target AUM of USD 350 Mn The Mumbai-based fund plans to make 10–12 investments with an average allocation of INR 200–300 crore per investment, targeting sectors such as financial services, consumption, digital and technology, healthcare, and manufacturing.

Financial services firm Avendus has announced the launch of its third fund under the Avendus Future Leaders Fund (FLF Fund) platform and aims to raise a corpus of INR 3,000 crore (~USD 350 million), including a green-shoe option of up to INR 1,500 crore.

The Mumbai-based fund plans to make 10–12 investments with an average allocation of INR 200–300 crore per investment. It is aiming to target sectors such as financial services, consumption, digital and technology, healthcare, and manufacturing.

As per the official release, the fund's investments will include both primary and secondary transactions in companies that have disaggregated institutional investor shareholding.

FLF III will invest in market leading businesses and category-defining companies. These target companies will need to have deep strategic competitive moats and execution capabilities across market cycles, strong operating metrics, and dominant market positions.

Ritesh Chandra, Managing Partner, Avendus Future Leaders Fund, said, "With Avendus Future Leaders Fund III, our approach remains straightforward - harnessing the vast potential of late-stage private opportunities while co-opting the existing financial sponsor ecosystem. We continue to back differentiated, high-quality businesses with sustainable competitive moats and a clear roadmap to liquidity."

"The FLF platform aims to deliver consistent, predictable, and repeatable outcomes with reduced portfolio volatility. Our commitment to an investor-first approach ensures a strong focus on liquidity with periodic distributions, a relatively shorter investment holding period, and best-in-class governance standards," he added.

Established in 1999, Avendus Group is a financial services firm with a presence in the areas of investment banking, institutional equity, wealth management, credit solutions, and asset management.

Today, it is present in 10 cities across India, the US, and Singapore.

The FLF platform claims that it has a diverse investor base that includes prominent Indian and U.S. family offices, HNIs, and domestic institutions. Bikaji Foods, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, Lenskart Solutions, National Stock Exchange, Delhivery, VerSe Innovation (Dailyhunt), SBI General Insurance, Licious, Juspay, Zeta, Indegene, Veritas Finance, FirstCry, Avanse Financial Services, and Xpressbees are some of its portfolio companies.

Among the companies in its portfolio, Lenskart Solutions Private Limited and the National Stock Exchange of India Limited are recent exits from FLF's first fund. According to Avendus, both of these companies generated roughly four times profits for the investors in just four years.

The second fund has completed 11 investments to date and is planning to deploy its remaining capital over the next few months. Four of its portfolio companies are likely to list on the exchanges over the next 6–9 months.

Over the past two funds, FLF claims to have managed a combined AUM of more than INR 1,850 crore.