BetterInvest's New Fund Aims to Rewrite India's Film Financing Script

CHENNAI, India – January 20, 2026 – In a significant move to professionalize financing for India's burgeoning media and entertainment (M&E) industry, Chennai-based BetterInvest has launched a SEBI-registered Category II Alternative Investment Fund (AIF). The new vehicle, named BetterInvest Media Vision Fund - 1, seeks to institutionalize a sector long characterized by informal networks and unstructured capital.

The fund is targeting a corpus of ₹300 crore, with a green shoe option to raise an additional ₹300 crore. It introduces a hybrid investment model that combines the stability of debt with the upside potential of profit participation, a structure designed to attract sophisticated investors looking for a new way to tap into India's booming content economy.

Formalizing an Unorganized Market

For decades, financing for Indian film and content production has been a complex and often opaque process. While large studios can leverage corporate balance sheets, independent and mid-sized producers have frequently relied on a fragmented network of private financiers, often at high interest rates, or struggled to secure loans from traditional banks wary of the industry's perceived risks and lack of tangible collateral.

BetterInvest's initiative represents a direct effort to address this gap. By operating as a SEBI-registered AIF, the fund brings regulatory oversight, transparency, and institutional discipline to content financing. This formal structure is intended to build confidence among investors and provide producers with a more reliable and professional source of capital.

"India's media and entertainment industry has reached a stage where content financing requires institutional-grade capital, faster deal execution, and smarter risk structures," said Mr. Sedhumanikandan, Co-founder of BetterInvest, in a statement accompanying the launch. "With the launch of our SEBI-registered Category II AIF, we are formalising what has largely been an unorganised financing segment."

This move aligns with a broader trend of professionalization within the Indian M&E sector. As production houses adopt more corporate governance and the demand for high-quality content explodes, the need for structured financial products has become more acute. BetterInvest aims to set a new standard in this space.

"Our objective is to evolve into a fully institutionalised, end-to-end capital provider for the ecosystem, setting benchmarks in underwriting, governance, and capital discipline," Mr. Sedhumanikandan added.

Unpacking the 'Debt-Plus-Profit' Model

The core innovation of the BetterInvest Media Vision Fund - 1 lies in its unique investment strategy. Unlike conventional debt funds that offer a fixed return, or private equity funds that take an ownership stake, this AIF employs a 'debt-plus-profit-sharing' structure. This hybrid model is designed to balance risk and reward for its investors.

The fund will provide private credit primarily for movie and content production. This debt is structured to be short-tenure and contract-backed, meaning loans are often secured against pre-sale agreements with distributors or streaming platforms, which helps mitigate default risk. Investors in the fund are slated to receive periodic interest payouts as these debt deals mature.

However, the model goes a step further by offering a share in the potential profits of the financed projects. This allows investors to participate in the financial success of a blockbuster film or a hit web series, offering an equity-like upside that traditional debt instruments lack. This structure aims to create a risk-calibrated pathway for investors, positioned between the safety of fixed-income products and the high-risk, high-reward nature of direct equity investments.

The fund operates on a five-year tenure. For the first three years, capital will be actively redeployed into new projects to maximize utilization and churn. From the fourth year onwards, the fund will begin returning principal to investors, with a full return of capital anticipated by the end of the fifth year.

A New Asset Class for Sophisticated Investors

As a Category II AIF, the fund is accessible only to sophisticated investors, including high-net-worth individuals (HNIs), family offices, and institutional players, who can meet the minimum investment threshold of ₹1 crore as mandated by SEBI. This investor class has shown a growing appetite for alternative assets that offer diversification and potentially higher yields than public markets.

The private credit market in India has expanded rapidly, filling a crucial gap left by banks and creating attractive opportunities for investors. BetterInvest is positioning its new fund as a unique offering within this space, distinguished by its exclusive focus on the M&E sector and its profit-sharing mechanism.

To build investor confidence, the company highlights its past performance through earlier, non-AIF structures. According to its launch announcement, BetterInvest has already financed over 235 media projects, deploying a cumulative total of approximately ₹800 crore. The company states that these prior investments have generated average annual returns of around 16% for its existing base of over 6,000 investors. While these historical returns are company-stated and pertain to different structures, they serve as a compelling benchmark for potential AIF investors.

Fueling India's Content Engine

The ultimate impact of such a fund could extend beyond financial returns. By providing a steady stream of institutional capital, the BetterInvest Media Vision Fund - 1 has the potential to act as a powerful catalyst for creativity and growth across the Indian entertainment landscape.

Easier access to structured financing could empower a wider range of producers and storytellers, enabling them to bring more ambitious and diverse projects to life. This is particularly relevant in the current environment, where the demand for original content is surging, driven by the proliferation of OTT platforms and a growing audience for regional-language productions.

For filmmakers, a reliable financing partner can mean the difference between a project languishing in development and it reaching the screen. The fund's promise of faster deal execution and smarter risk structures could reduce uncertainty and allow creative teams to focus on production quality rather than financial wrangling. This infusion of organized capital may well contribute to a new wave of high-quality, globally competitive content emerging from India, strengthening its position as a major player in the international creative economy.