Prithvi Sustainability Innovation and Technology Fund, with a proposed corpus of $150 million, is the newest fund set to make India-centric investments in companies that provide solutions to address air, water and soil contamination. It is promoted by Shankar Rele, CEO of investment advisory ICEStartups.com, and Pramod Sheddy.
Talking to VCCircle, Rele said, they expect a first close of the fund by January 2010 at $100 million and a final close in March. Prithvi is tapping overseas investors including institutions, high networth individuals and hedge funds in the US and UK. The fund is simultaneously in talks with investee companies and will make investments after the first close.
Cleantech sector covers knowledge-based products or services that improve operational performance, productivity, or efficiency while reducing costs, inputs, energy consumption, waste, or pollution.