Varanium Capital: Mumbai's $1 billion multi-asset manager behind a ₹250 crore venture debt fund

Varanium Capital Advisors Private Limited is a Mumbai-headquartered, SEBI-licensed portfolio manager and asset management firm (SEBI registration no. INP000005281) that serves high-net-worth individuals and institutional clients across traditional and alternative asset classes. Founded by T S Anantakrishnan and operating since 1990, the firm manages nearly $1 billion in assets spanning structured debt, portfolio management services (PMS) and venture capital funds, and is the exclusive investment adviser to Varanium Asset Management, Mauritius, a SEBI-registered foreign institutional investor.

For startups, Varanium's most relevant vehicles sit in its venture business. The firm operates a Category-I AIF called the Varanium NexGen Fund, focused on early-stage fintech startups, which has backed 12 startups including Easebuzz, Riskcovry, Finvu and Homeville. Industry data (Inc42) credits Varanium Capital Advisors with 16 portfolio companies and 27 investments, including names such as GetVantage, Data Sutram, Drona Pay and InCred.

Alongside equity, Varanium runs a debut venture debt fund of ₹250 crore with a ₹50 crore green-shoe option, first closed in July 2023, aimed at backing nearly 100 startups through a mix of revenue-based financing and traditional venture debt. The fund targets D2C, SaaS, B2B commerce and fintech companies that need non-dilutive growth capital. The debt fund is managed by Nawal Bachhuka, formerly risk head for SME and SEG (West) at Aditya Birla Finance, and draws its senior leadership from the former top team of IndusInd Bank — former CEO Romesh Sobti, former chief risk officer K S Sridhar, former head of corporate lending Suhail Chander and former COO Paul Abraham. The investment committee comprises T S Anantakrishnan, Aparajit Bhandarkar, Suhail Chander and K S Sridhar.

The PMS side of the house offers products including the Varanium G2G India Portfolio, which invests in companies during their "Good-to-Great" phase, and the actively managed Varanium Alpha Portfolio. The firm's total fund sizes beyond the disclosed $1 billion AUM and the ₹250 crore venture debt corpus are not publicly disclosed. It runs no startup accelerator; its founder-facing offerings are equity cheques from the NexGen Fund and debt from the venture debt fund.

Varanium's positioning is unusual: one group combining wealth management for HNIs, dollar-denominated offshore products, early-stage fintech equity and venture debt under one roof — giving founders the option of both equity and credit from the same house.