Norwest, Blume and Stride win APEX'25 Venture Capital Awards

Press Release

Norwest Venture Partners, Blume Ventures and Stride Ventures were awarded as the Top Venture Capital investors in India in 2024 as part of Venture Intelligence APEX‘25 Private Equity & Venture Capital awards event in Mumbai. 

The Venture Intelligence “Awards for Private Equity Excellence” (APEX) is dedicated to celebrating the best that the Indian Private Equity & Venture Capital industry has to offer. The APEX Awardees are selected based on both Self Nomination by the participating PE-VC firms and "crowd sourced" voting from the Limited Partner, PE-VC and advisory communities. (The main criteria are Return Track Record, New Fund Raises & Follow-on Funding Rounds for Portfolio Companies)

Growth VC Investor of the Year

Norwest Venture Partners received the Growth Venture Capital Investor of the Year 2024 Award on the back of two strong part exits during the year, including an over 30x return from Swiggy (which successfully pulled off the largest startup IPO of 2024). The firm also made another part exit from Five Star Business Finance via Public market sale during the year. Six of  Norwest India’s portfolio companies also attracted follow-on investments during 2024.  

Niren Shah of Norwest (L) receives Growth VC Fund of the Year 2024 from Anjani Bagaria, Director - Private Equity Advisory at TH Global Capital

“Norwest is delighted to receive the “Growth VC Fund of the Year 2024” award. This recognition is a testament to the vision of our founders who have trusted us as their growth partner over the last 2 decades and to the exceptional Norwest India team,” said Niren Shah, MD and Head of Norwest India, who received the award on behalf of the firm. “Our strategy is continued focus on growth equity investing with $30-100 million deal size and opportunistically doing buyouts and venture deals. We remain bullish on the India opportunity and will continue to be long term investors.” he added.

Early Stage VC Investor of the Year

Blume Ventures received the Early Stage VC Investor of the Year 2024 Award on the back of two Complete Exits and 1 Part Exit. 34 of its Portfolio companies attracted follow-on investments during the year. 

Sanjay Nath & Alok Mehta of Blume Ventures receive the Early Stage VC Investor of the Year 2024 Award from Srini Vudayagiri, Head - Brand Capital, India (R)

"Thank you to the Venture Intelligence team and all our believers who voted for us for the award.  Its been a steep learning curve over almost a decade and a half of journey and all of the 9 member strong leadership at Blume believe that we still have a lots to do and develop as an ecosystem.  We remain committed to building great companies and delivering outlier returns for our LPs. Thank you again," said Ashish Fafadia, Partner, Blume Ventures.

Venture Debt Investor of the Year

Stride Ventures received the Venture Debt Investor of the Year 2024 Award. The firm has provided investors an IRR of 19% from its Fund I and is tracking an 18% IRR from its Fund II. It is now investing from Fund III tracking 17% IRR. Divya Anand, Partner at Stride Ventures received the award on behalf of the firm.

Divya Anand of Stride Ventures (L) receives Venture Debt Investor of the Year 2024 Award from Deepti Malik, Managing Director, Stakeboat Capital

"Winning the Venture Debt Investor of the Year award for the fourth consecutive year is a testament to the brilliance of every Stride team member and the trust of our partners. At Stride Ventures, we take immense pride in empowering entrepreneurs with innovative, founder-friendly capital solutions. This recognition reaffirms our commitment to not only shaping the startup landscape in India but also setting new global benchmarks in alternative financing. As we continue to scale, our focus remains on driving meaningful impact, fostering innovation, and supporting the next generation of industry leaders." said Apoorva Sharma, Managing Partner, Stride Ventures. 

Venture Intelligence is India's longest serving provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India.