Philly’s SRI Capital has a cool $100 million to fund enterprise tech

Using Philly as a launchpad, venture firm SRI Capital is hoping its newly-launched $100-million fund can help grow the enterprise tech companies of the future.

The fund will look to invest in around 25 U.S. or India-based startups at the pre-Series A stage to the tune of $1 million to $3 million over the next three to four years, relying on partners Doc Parghi and Sashi Reddi’s track record as investors (Phenom People and Sidecar locally) and entrepreneurs.

According to Parghi, who sits on the board of Ben Franklin Technology Partners, SRI Capital has full-time partners in both the U.S. and India, which will allow it to back companies that want to scale in the U.S. market from South Asia.

“We are investing $20 million of our own capital in the fund,” said Parghi in an email. “We believe in what we are doing and are backing it with our own money. Very few fund managers invest more than 1-2% of the fund themselves.”

That $20 million is an anchor investment from Reddi’s family office. Alongside other commitments under development, the firm plans to make six to eight investments a year.

“There is a funding gap for Indian startups targeting US enterprise customers,” Reddi said. “While Indian VCs have struggled to support these U.S.-focused startups, US VCs typically do not understand India-based tech teams. SRI Capital will fill this gap.”

Parghi — who speaks passionately about Philly’s potential to grow landscape-changing companies — said the nine-digit fund means doubling down on the Philadelphia area, though they will be looking at deals throughout the northeast.

“We hope this shows our commitment to anchor in Philly,” Parghi told Technical.ly. “We’re very excited to be based here.”