Stride Ventures

Stride Ventures is a New Delhi-based prominent venture debt fund aggressively backing disruptive health-tech businesses in the Indian ecosystem. Check sizes of $1M to $5M reflect typical venture debt deployments, though specific structures vary by deal. Stage focus on Series B through growth places the firm above the venture seed range; healthcare exposure includes health-IT software and digital health.

It is important to be honest about the structural difference: venture debt is not equity venture capital. Stride provides non-dilutive growth capital to companies that have already raised equity rounds and have credible revenue and unit economics. The firm’s natural fit is with Indian health-tech companies that have raised institutional Series B or later equity, generating revenue, and seeking non-dilutive runway extension or specific growth capital for working capital, infrastructure, or M&A. Founders below Series B scale, founders without revenue or with weak unit economics, and founders evaluating their first equity raise are not the right fit.

Geographically, Stride’s advantage is the Indian growth-stage ecosystem and its connectivity to follow-on equity and venture debt syndication. For Indian-anchored health-tech operators with proven revenue and a clear use of debt capital, Stride is a credible domestic venture debt partner. For non-Indian operators, the strategic logic is thin.

The right entry path is via an investment banker arranging debt facilities, the company’s equity board members with venture debt relationships, or a senior CFO at one of the Indian unicorns. Decks should lead with revenue, EBITDA or path to EBITDA, working capital dynamics, and a specific use of debt capital tied to a discrete operational milestone. Venture debt diligence focuses on cash flow predictability and collateral, not on growth thesis alone.

Caveats. Venture debt introduces specific repayment, covenant, and warrant structures that require experienced credit-track counsel; engage early. The firm’s healthcare-specific portfolio depth is not as visible publicly as that of dedicated equity VCs, but venture debt fundamentally requires equity funding rounds to underwrite from; confirm Stride’s view of your equity position via direct conversation. For Indian Series B-and-later health-tech operators with proven revenue, Stride Ventures is a credible non-dilutive growth capital source; for early-stage founders evaluating equity, this is the wrong door.