Iron Pillar raises $129 million Venture Growth Fund

Iron Pillar on Wednesday said it had closed a $129 million Series B- and C-fund to back cloud software startups from India, as the venture capital firm increased its exposure to the rapidly-growing sector.

International Data Corporation (IDC), a market intelligence firm, in December projected the Indian market for public cloud services would reach $13 billion by 2026, with a compound-annual-growth rate of 23.1% from 2021 to 2026.

“The global cloud opportunity is growing at an unprecedented pace,” Iron Pillar Managing Partner Anand Prasanna said in a statement.

Iron Pillar has already invested in several cloud software companies from India, including Uniphore, Servify, CoreStack, Ushur, and Pando. It said the new fund will have an emphasis on cloud infrastructure and software as a service (SaaS).

The latest fund drew participation from existing institutional investors from the United States, Europe and the Middle East, including 57 Stars LLC as well as new backers including two endowments and a foundation, Iron Pillar said without disclosing names.

Iron Pillar, which says its investment model involves leading Series B and C rounds in its portfolio companies, has also invested in online meat-ordering platform FreshToHome and jewellery-seller BlueStone. Reuters