Oister Global: the secondaries and fund-of-funds engine behind India's private markets

Oister Global describes itself as India's premier alternative assets manager — and its pitch is unusual in the VC world because it is not aimed at founders first. Oister builds funds that invest in India's most valuable private companies, giving institutions, family offices and ultra-high-net-worth individuals a disciplined route into private markets where underwriting makes all the difference.

For founders, Oister matters in a different way. Its funds back India's late-stage private companies through secondary, feeder and fund-of-funds structures, making the firm a quiet but significant source of liquidity and late-stage capital in the Indian startup ecosystem.

How it invests

Oister runs four investment structures: secondary funds that buy existing stakes in India's late-stage companies; feeder funds giving pooled access to capacity-constrained VC/PE funds; diversified fund-of-funds across top-tier VC/PE managers; and direct investments alongside trusted managers in late-stage companies. The firm reports over $700 million in capital deployed across asset classes, runs more than nine funds, and points to exposure across over 100 portfolio companies.

The funds that matter

The Oister India Pinnacle Fund (OIPF) is a Rs 440-crore fund-of-funds (including a Rs 190-crore greenshoe option) targeting investments across venture capital and private equity fund managers. It covers the full spectrum: early (pre-Series A, Series A), growth (Series B, C) and late-stage (Series D onwards) funds, backing both established consumption-driven sectors and emerging technology-led sectors. Oister has previously invested in marquee managers such as Blume Ventures and Stride Ventures.

Its secondaries engine is the ACE series. ACE Fund III, the third fund in the series, has a corpus of Rs 500 crore including a Rs 250-crore greenshoe option, focused on late-stage startups with strong unit economics, institutional investor backing and visible liquidity avenues such as IPOs and strategic exits. It follows ACE Fund II, which was oversubscribed two times and closed at Rs 400 crore against an original target of Rs 200 crore, and has already completed five investments.

Portfolio exposure and leadership

Through its earlier funds Oister has secured exposure to startups including Blackbuck, Shiprocket, Purplle, Servify, M1xchange and Kuku FM — several of which sit on the IPO track, which is exactly what a secondaries fund wants to see. The firm says nearly 98% of the capital raised across its funds has come from domestic investors — family offices, institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals — reflecting the deepening of India's domestic private-markets capital base.

Co-founder and co-CEO Rohit Bhayana has described the strategy as a versatile blend of venture capital, growth equity and private equity aimed at capitalising on India's consumption-driven growth. Oister also publishes research with CRISIL — its third edition of the landmark 'No ifs about AIFs' report — cementing its role as a thought leader in Indian private markets.