4/13/12 Social venture fund Aavishkaar invests 26 crore in two companies - Economic Times 1/2 …indiatimes.com/…/31313092_1_venture-fund-venture-capital-soham-renewable-energy Tags: World Bank | Vana Vidyut | Solar power | Sequoia | Omidyar Network | Karadi Path Education | Green energy | Aavishkaar Recommend 0 Social venture fund Aavishkaar invests 26 crore in two companies Biswarup Gooptu, ET Bureau Apr 9, 2012, 06.05AM IST BANGALORE: Social venture fund Aavishkaar, which manages a corpus of $120 million, has invested in two new ventures, an education services firm and a renewable energy company. The fund has invested a total of 26 crore across the two firms Karadi Path and Vana Vidyut Pvt Ltd, according to two people familiar with the transactions. Ads by Google Save Energy Save Money Attractive Rates of Finance For Energy Efficiency Projects for MSME sidbi.in/Enquire-Now Gujarat Solar Park Dedicating 600MW Solar Power Projects to the Nation www.gujaratsolarpark.com Karadi Path Education Co will receive 8 crore to expand its English language learning operations focussed on primary school students particularly in semi-urban and rural areas. Separately, Aavishkaar has also invested 18 crore in bio-mass company Vana Vidyut which is expected to set up India's first grid-connected bio-mass power plant with captive bio-mass feed stock from dedicated energy plantations. Aavishkaar, a rural and semi-urban-focussed venture fund raised capital which closed a first tranche of $70 million last year, has raised money from a set of marquee investors including International Finance Corporation, Cisco and CDC. In December 2011, the fund participated in a series funding of Chennai-based Vortex Engineering Pvt. Ltd, which makes low power consuming automated teller machines designed for semi-urban and rural areas. Both the education and renewable energy sectors continue to be favourable investment destinations for risk capital players, with demand outpacing sluggish supply in one of the world's fastest growing economies. The Indian education sector has attracted significant investment play from the private equity and venture capital funds in recent times, with Bangalore-based Edusys Services raising $7.5 million from Sequoia Capital in February earlier in the year, and Mumbai Angels investing 5 crore in eDreams Software Innovation. Renewable energy sector in India, too, has seen significant investments, as private equity and venture capital try to boost their holdings in the sector, given the country s stated objective to raise its solar power generation capacity to 20,000 MW by 2020 from its current 250 MW. Last year, Soham Renewable Energy announced that SBI Macquarie Infrastructure Fund had invested 125 crore in the Bangalore-based company's renewable platforms In August 2011, Shalivahana Green Energy, which generates power from bio-mass, raised $15 million in equity financing from International Finance Corp, a member of the World Bank Group, to set up new plants IN-DEPTH COVERAGE RELATED ARTICLES Gen Y entrepreneurs bet big on clean-tech innovations February 3, 2010 Self-sustainable & socially relevant biz plans May 20, 2007 Obama’s clean energy plan November 12, 2008 Ads by Google Renewable Energy Venture Capital Green Energy News By Industry News Stock Quote Type Company Name Home News Markets IPO Personal Finance Tech Jobs Opinion Features Environment Budget 2012 Blogs ET NOW News By Industry News By Company Economy Politics/Nation International Business Emerging Businesses NRI Auto Banking/Finance Cons. Products Energy Ind'l Goods / Svs Healthcare/Biotech Jobs Services Media/Entertainment ET Cetera Telecom Transportation Education ADVERTISEMENT You are here: Home > Collections > Renewable Energy