Stride Ventures: India's venture-debt leader

India's non-dilutive capital champion

Stride Ventures is one of India's best-known venture-debt firms — a lender that gives high-growth, venture-backed startups debt capital without diluting founder equity. Founded in 2019 in New Delhi by corporate-banking veteran Ishpreet Singh Gandhi, the firm has grown into a global venture-debt and growth-credit manager with an established presence across India, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Southeast Asia, plus an advisory presence in the United Kingdom. Its website states it has enabled over $2 billion in credit globally and follows the Principles for Responsible Investing (PRI).

Investment thesis

Stride's philosophy is that entrepreneurs should not surrender ownership every time they need growth capital. It offers structured, non-dilutive debt to institutionally backed companies and positions itself as a strategic partner offering a 360-degree financial ecosystem. Its investment focus rests on four pillars: large addressable markets where technology unlocks scale; sponsor-backed companies with reputable institutional investors; favourable unit economics with a concrete path to profitability; and sectoral or category leaders it can back with conviction and double down on.

Sectors and stages

Stride is explicitly sector-agnostic and stage-neutral, though its lending has clustered around consumer, fintech, agritech, B2B commerce and SaaS, healthtech, mobility and energy. Its portfolio spans over 180 startups across 12-plus sectors, including 16 or more unicorns, and it typically partners with companies already backed by reputable institutional equity investors.

Fund size and cheque sizes

Stride's fund family has grown steadily: Fund I raised about $50 million in 2019; Fund II launched with a target of ₹1,000 crore plus an ₹875 crore greenshoe and closed at $200 million in 2022; Fund III announced a first close of $100 million in 2023 and closed at $165 million in 2024. The firm later launched Fund IV, its largest domestic fund, with a target corpus of $300 million, and has raised $300 million across its India, GCC and UK funds, targeting a $600 million final close. Ticket sizes from Fund II were expected to go up to ₹70 crore, with its average early ticket around ₹15 crore, and several later deployments have exceeded ₹100 crore each.

Notable portfolio

Stride's portfolio includes Zepto, SUGAR Cosmetics, Lohum, Ather Energy, BlueStone, Upstox, Moneyview, Infra.Market, Zetwerk, Bizongo, Spinny, PharmEasy, Perfios, HealthifyMe, MediBuddy, Yubi (CredAvenue), Mensa Brands, VideoVerse, BluSmart, WayCool, Battery Smart, Cashfree Payments, Captain Fresh, AgroStar, Miko and Exotel, with over 220 companies globally.

Partners and team

The firm is led by founder and managing partner Ishpreet Singh Gandhi, alongside managing partners Apoorva Sharma and Abhinav Suri. YourStory describes the core team as ex-bankers with over six decades of combined corporate-banking experience, blending banking discipline with venture-capital instincts.

Programs, accelerators and perks

Stride Ventures runs no publicly documented accelerator, incubator or fellowship programme, and there are no publicly documented startup credits or perks. Its value-add sits in the capital product itself: customised, non-dilutive credit lines, plus access to its network of corporates, banks and ecosystem partners.