Growth Sense Venture Fund on Thursday said it has got approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) as a Category-1 Angel Fund for investments into early stage startups.

A Category-1 AIF means that the fund primarily invests in sectors that are considered to be socially or economically beneficial by the government such as social ventures, small and medium enterprises.

The fund has a corpus of Rs 100 crore and is sector agnostic, which helps the company broaden its scope of its investment.

Growth Sense, the investment manager for the fund, has made over 88 investments to date with six startups showing over 100% IRR (internal rate of return). IRR is a metric that is used to calculate the profitability of an investment.

“Receiving SEBI approval marks an exciting milestone for Growth Sense Venture Fund. This fund allows us to channel investor capital into startups that are not only poised for growth but are delivering real value to the Indian economy. Our team is dedicated to supporting India’s most promising startups with capital, mentorship, and strategic resources,” said Sanjay Sarda, Co-founder of Growth Sense.

The fund aims to provide startups with access to partnerships, guidance, and operational support and focuses on high-potential ventures.

The firm’s current portfolio includes, edtech startup Klassroom, hostel booking platform Homversity, and pet service aggregator platform Petmojo, among others.

Additionally, the Growth Sense ecosystem includes associate companies such as founder-investor marketplace Growth91, technology solution provider Growth Metaverse, branding and digital marketing service provider Growth Alpha, legal and regulatory service provider Growth Compliances and cybersecurity product INVIdata.

The firm’s fund is open for investment and allows individuals with a certain level of net worth and corporations to contribute.

Honasa Consumer, the parent company behind Mamaearth has lost its unicorn status as shares fell about 29% across sessions since its close last week.

Shares closed at Rs 237.70 apiece tanking the company’s total market cap to Rs 7,721 crore or roughly $902 million. It had filed for IPO at a valuation of Rs 10,500 crore in November 2023.

The company which listed on domestic bourses on November 7, 2023 is now trading about 27% below its IPO issue price of Rs 324.

In an exchange filing today, the company clarified the scope of its leftover inventory with distributors amid media reports of credit backlogs and unsold stock with distributors.

Honasa clarified that its distribution value chain carried a total inventory of Rs 40.69 crore, against the quoted figure of Rs 300 crore of near-expiry inventory by the All India Consumer Products Distributors Federation.

The dominos effect started a week ago when the beauty and personal care retailer announced its second-quarter earnings.

Shares closed at Rs 371.55 apiece on Thursday, November 14 just before the company released the earnings report.

The Varun Alagh-led company clocked a loss-making quarter after its previous green P&Ls. It posted a loss of loss of Rs 18.71 crore in the July-September 2024 quarter from a profit of Rs 29.78 crore in the corresponding quarter in the previous year. 

It has been clocking slower revenue growth across quarters. The company reported a 19% rise in its operating revenue in Q1FY25 and 21% YoY growth in Q4 FY24. Its latest quarter witnessed a de-growth of 7% to Rs 461.82 crore.

India’s public broadcaster Prasar Bharati on Wednesday unveiled its OTT app ‘Waves’ through which users can also access vast archives of Doordarshan and Aakashvani.

Currently, the app currently offers around 40 live channels, including popular ones from broadcasters such as B4U, ABZY, SAB Group and 9X Media as well as news channels such as India Today, News Nation, Republic, ABP News, News24, and NDTV India.

“We are trying to give clean and family entertainment,” Navneet Kumar Sehgal, Chairman, Prasar Bharati, said on the sidelines of the International Film Festival of India in Panaji, Goa.

Sehgal said the OTT app also provides a host of other services such as news, easy shopping facility by linking up with ONDC network, games, films.

“All our (Prasar Bharati) archives are also available. You can relive your childhood by watching your favourite shows,” he said.