B Capital closes second fund on $820m

Alessia Argentieri
06 July 2020

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Venture capital house B Capital Group has held a final close for its second fund on $820m.

The fund held a first close in April 2019.

This final closing brings the firm's total assets under management to $1.4bn.

Founded in 2014 by Raj Ganguly, formerly of Bain Capital, and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, B Capital invests in companies that have a competitive edge due to innovative technology, a strong customer value proposition, and the ability to scale rapidly into new sectors and regions. The firm has offices in San Francisco, New York and Singapore.

"When we founded B Capital," said Saverin, "Raj and I were committed to building a firm that looks for innovation off the beaten path and technology that has applications beyond just one region. We wanted to set a new standard for growth-stage investing."

The fund invests in growth-stage B2B and B2C startups globally, targeting businesses able to transform large industries. It primarily invests in enterprise technology (including software-as-a-service, infrastructure artificial intelligence and machine learning, and security), financial and healthcate technology, consumer enablement technology, and logistics.

The fund typically deploys tickets of $10-60m in series-B, -C and -D rounds in companies that are positioned for rapid expansion.

In addition to financial backing, the fund partners with its portfolio companies to solidify operations, support business development, hire new talent, and bolster growth.

The vehicle has already built a portfolio of around 30 companies based across Asia, Europe and the US. It has recently inked two investments: Synack, a crowdsourced cybersecurity testing platform; and Khatabook, a startup that digitises local businesses through bookkeeping and online payments.

"Although technology is already embedded in nearly every sector and aspect of daily life, the last three months have shown us that there is still extensive unmet need when it comes to digitalisation," said B Capital co-founder and managing partner Raj Ganguly.

He added: "We believe the next 10 years will see a major shift in innovation as entrepreneurs examine industries and practices from new angles, and find ways to accelerate connectivity between systems, companies and people. This new fund comes at a time when technology's potential has never been greater. Covid-19 has thrust the world into a new digital age, exposing areas that need to be reimagined."