# NovaStar Funds

NovaStar Funds is a Corporate Investor based in London, India.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Corporate Investor
- **Headquarters:** London, India
- **Region:** Asia
- **Address:** Bangalore, India
- **Founded:** 2014
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed
- **Website:** novastarventures.com
- **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/novastar-funds

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

NovaStar Funds is a corporate investor based in Bangalore, India. It focuses on investments in Asia.

## Sectors

- AgriTech & FoodTech
- Energy Transition & Renewables
- FinTech
- Healthcare Services
- Mobility & Transportation
- Enterprise Software

## Offices

- Nairobi, Kenya
- Lagos, Nigeria

## People

- Steve Beck — Co-founder and Managing Partner
- Andrew Carruthers — Co-founder and Managing Partner
- Vijay Angadi — Managing Director, NovaStar Funds (India) and ICF Ventures

## Questions

### Who makes investment decisions at Novastar Ventures?

Day-to-day decisions rest with co-founders Steve Beck and Andrew Carruthers, who serve as Managing Partners. Beck brings a development-finance and impact-investing background, while Carruthers contributes operational and emerging-markets private equity experience. The team operates a flat structure where investment committee decisions draw on senior professionals in Nairobi and Lagos.

### How does Novastar source proprietary deal flow in African markets?

The firm relies on in-country teams embedded in Nairobi and Lagos, supplemented by relationships with development finance institutions that co-invest across the region. Carruthers and Beck have publicly emphasized on-the-ground networks and extended pre-investment relationship-building as primary origination channels, rather than auction processes. The firm also leverages its DFI partners' portfolio company networks for co-investment visibility.

### Does Novastar commit to funds or only make direct investments?

The firm makes direct equity and structured capital investments into operating companies across East and West Africa. It does not operate as a fund-of-funds. Its own vehicles, such as the Africa People + Planet Fund, are structured as direct-investment closed-end funds, with DFIs as anchor LPs.

### How is Novastar's climate fund different from its earlier vehicles?

The Africa People + Planet Fund explicitly links climate resilience with income generation for low-income households, a dual mandate not formalized in the earlier East Africa Fund I or Pan-African Fund II. The strategy screens for ventures that reduce environmental vulnerability while providing goods, services, or livelihoods to base-of-the-pyramid populations. DFI commitment terms for this vehicle include blended-finance tranches that earlier funds did not feature.

### What is Novastar's relationship with ICF Ventures in India?

Co-founder Vijay Angadi serves as Managing Director of both Novastar Funds' India operations and ICF Ventures, a separate vehicle with overlapping managerial DNA. While the two platforms maintain distinct investment mandates, the Bangalore office provides operational and analytical support to the Africa-focused funds. The arrangement reflects Carruthers and Beck's view that emerging-market venture platforms benefit from multi-jurisdictional infrastructure.

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- [Nova Scotia Teachers' Pension Plan](https://altss.com/profile/nova-scotia-teachers-pension-plan-tpp)
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Last updated: 2026-07-10T08:15:49.000Z

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