Funds Worth $3.8 Bn+ Announced For Startups In 2023; Here’s The Full List

The financial year 2023 proved to be a challenging period for Indian startups in the context of securing funding. Despite having substantial dry powder reserves of over $18 Bn as of December 2022, investors adopted a cautious approach.

Not to mention, the impact of bearish investor sentiments has seeped into financial year 2024 as well, leading to a significant 15% month-on-month decline in funding, with only $337 Mn raised in August 2023.

According to Inc42’s ‘Indian Tech Startup Funding Report Q1 2023’, 84% of Indian VCs surveyed said that growth-stage startups faced difficulty in raising funds.

However, despite the funding gloom embracing 2023 too, VC, angel and PE investors have announced 52 funds worth more than $3.8 Bn so far this year to support Indian startups at various stages.

According to Inc42, 38% (or 20 funds) of the total funds announced this year focus solely on early-stage startups.

While about $3.8 Bn worth of capital is meant specifically for India, there are funds such as B Capital and Nexus, which consider India as one of their investment markets. (We have not included them in $3.8 Bn).

In our effort to provide startups with up-to-date information on funding resources, we will continuously update this article with latest venture funds, their sizes, sectors of focus, and other relevant details.

For now, here’s a list of 52 funds, comprising details on their fund size, sectors in focus and more, which have been launched so far this year.

Editor’s Note: All funds have been placed in alphabetical order.

List Of Startup Focussed Investment Funds, Plans Announced By VCs, Investors And More

3one4 Capital (Fund IV)

Bengaluru-based venture capital (VC) startup 3one4 Capital closed its fourth early-stage investment fund, Fund IV, at $200 Mn in May 2023. 3one4 Capital will invest in early-stage startups (from pre-seed to Series A) with cheque sizes between $0.5 Mn to $5 Mn. 

Founded in 2015 by Pranav Pai and Siddarth Pai, 3one4 Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm based in Bangalore, India.

The VC firm said it would focus on sectors such as consumer internet, SaaS and fintech while increasing investments in newer areas such as health tech, climate tech and more.

AdvantEdge (Fund III)

Early-stage venture capital (VC) fund AdvantEdge unveiled its third fund to invest $80-$100 Mn in mobility solutions companies.

Founded in 2015 by Kunal Khattar, AdvantEdge is an early stage tech fund investing across consumer sectors with a focus on mobility.

The new fund focusses on investing in the electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem with eyes on startups that make EVs affordable. The fund also plans to invest in startups that lease out

Aeravti Ventures

Early stage venture capital (VC) firm Aeravti Ventures announced the first close of its maiden INR 100 Cr fund on May 30,2023. 

Led by General Partners Rishabh Singh and Shubham Jhuria, and supported by over 25 Entrepreneur Partners (EPs), Aeravti Ventures is focussed on investing in new-age technologies and emerging tech startups.

For its maiden fund, Bengaluru-based firm said the fund will invest in pre-seed to Pre-Series A funding rounds of startups in sectors like deeptech, biosciences, agritech, climate, and enterprise tech in the next two to two-and-a-half years. 

Agri-Focused Accelerator Fund

During the union budget speech 2023-24 in February, India’s finance minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman announced an agriculture-focused accelerator fund to shore up domestic agritech startups working in rural areas of the nation.

The FM said that the fund targets building innovative and effective agritech solutions for agriculture farmers, in turn, helping them improve access to market linkages and yields. The move is part of this year’s seven-fold approach which aims to give a major push to the Indian economy amid a global slowdown.

Targeted at farmers, the project will support the growth of the agritech industry and startups. It is also envisaged to improve access to farm inputs, shore up credit and insurance, and increase access to market intelligence.

Airavat Global Technology Fund R

Public equities investment firm Airavat Capital announced the launch of a global technology fund, Airavat Global Technology Fund R (AGTF R) in June.

The tech fund has already received interest worth over $40 Mn from investors, including existing stakeholders of Airavat Capital, other VC investors, technology founders/CTOs, and family offices.

Airavat Capital is an investment management firm that is focussed on listed technology-enabled businesses across growing sectors such as consumer, financial services, technology and pharma. It is pertinent to note that it is the first-ever global technology fund to be based out of GIFT City.

Arkam Ventures

Early stage VC firm Arkam Ventures launched its second fund with a target corpus of $180 Mn in June 2023. The fund is nearly double the size of its previous fund, which the VC firm closed last year at $106 Mn.

With its new fund, the VC firm would look to write larger early stage checks to secure a bigger stake in early stage startups.

Typically, Arkam Ventures steps in at the Pre-Series A to Series B stage, with cheque sizes ranging between INR 10-20 Cr.

Arkam Ventures has made 18 investments so far, including names like smallcase, KreditBee, Jar, Smartstaff, Jai Kisan, Signzy, SpotDraft, Wint Wealth, Invact, Mudrex, BestDoc, and Jumbotail.

Avaana Capital

Climate-focussed venture capital firm Avaana Capital raised $70 Mn, announcing the first close of its Avaana Climate and Sustainability Fund in June. The VC firm is targeting a total corpus of $100-125 Mn for the fund.

The fund will focus investments in three sectors, including energy transition and resource management, mobility and supply chains, sustainable agriculture and food systems.

Led by Anjali Bansal, Swapna Gupta, and Shruti Srivastava, Avaana Climate and Sustainability Fund focusses on tech-driven and innovative climate solutions, looking to solve climate risk mitigation, adaptation and resilience building.

B Capital (Growth Fund III)

US-based investment firm B Capital closed its third venture growth fund and allied companion funds, Growth Fund III at $2.1 Bn in January this year. The fund will invest between $40 Mn and $50 Mn in startups across the US and Asia, including India, working in enterprisetech, fintech, healthtech, SaaS and cybersecurity segments.

Founded in 2015 by Howard Morgan, Sheila Patel, Eduardo Saverin and Raj Ganguly, B Capital invests in seed to late-stage startups. It manages nearly $6.3 Bn worth of assets under management (AUM).

The fund will emphasise on value-added investing, accelerating business development and growth of portfolio companies, according to the VC firm.

B Capital (Healthcare Fund I)

VC firm B Capital also closed a Healthcare Fund I at over $500 Mn. The healthcare-focused fund would invest in startups working in digital health and biotech segments. 

Its healthcare portfolio includes more than 20 early and late-stage startups based in the US, Asia and Europe. Its portfolio spans the healthtech, digital health, biotech and medtech segments.

Some of its portfolio companies are Bounce, BYJU’S, Khatabook, Meesho, PharmEasy, Yubi and Dailyhunt.

Blume Continuity Fund

Venture capital (VC) firm Blume Ventures announced the first close of its new opportunity-cum-continuity fund, Fund 1Y, in June. This is the VC firm’s third growth fund.

Blume said in a statement that it already raised INR 200 Cr of the INR 400 Cr target corpus for the round.

The VC firm also added that it would invest a part of the capital raised to buy out strong startups such as IntrCity, Cashify, Carbon Clean and Zopper from its Fund 1 and related investment vehicles and use the remaining to invest in startups from other funds.

Blume also raised similar-sized opportunity funds in 2018, 2021 and 2022 to invest in startups such as Exotel, Grey Orange Robotics, Smallcase, slice, Unacademy and WebEngage.

BoldCap Fund

Indian venture capital firm BoldCap announced a $25 Mn second fund in April 2023 to make investments in 15-20 early-stage SaaS startups in the country in the next 24-36 months.

The fund bets on Indian startup founders having global ambitions. The fund aims to build more SaaS-based companies in India for the world.

Founded in 2021 by Nellore, BoldCap largely invests in pre-seed and seed-stage B2B SaaS startups in India. The VC firm primarily backs pre-seed and seed-stage B2B SaaS startups, which are based out of India.

From its $5 Mn maiden fund, it has backed 10 startups to date, including Spendflo, TestSigma and Spotdraf.

CapFort Ventures

CapFort Ventures, a Micro VC fund, has recently unveiled its new India-focussed tech fund, amounting to INR 200 Cr. Over the next two years, the fund aims to invest in approximately 40  startups.

The firm has a diversified investment strategy, targeting startups from various sectors, including deeptech, cleantech, B2B tech, logistics, healthtech, and other impact-oriented sectors.

As a category II alternative investment fund (AIF), CapFort Ventures will be seeking opportunities to invest in startups with valuations within the range of INR 100 Cr. The ticket size for individual investments is expected to vary between INR 2 Cr and INR 6 Cr, with the average falling around INR 3 Cr to INR 3.5 Cr.

The first close of the fund is anticipated to take place by the end of this year, with further provisions for additional investments through a green shoe option of INR 100 Cr, which will be available if there is considerable interest from potential investors.

The micro VC firm is looking to source a majority of the capital from domestic investors, with participation from institutional investors, family offices, and ultra HNIs. 

Capria Ventures

Global venture capital firm Capria Ventures marked the first close of its $100 Mn fund in April 2023. The VC firm said it will focus on investing in 20-25 tech startups across India, Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa via its new fund. 

It will focus on startups harnessing the potential of Generative AI to grow across multiple sectors as well as climate startups, the VC firm said. The fund has been anchored by LPs such as OIP Investment Trust and Gates Ventures as well as foundations, individuals and family offices.

Capria’s family of funds collectively manage assets exceeding $200 Mn.

CarTrade Ventures

Auto marketplace CarTrade launched its VC arm, CarTrade Ventures, in February this year to make investments and acquisitions in the Indian automotive space. The new venture will deploy up to INR 750 Cr (around $94 Mn) over the next five years to strengthen its auto-tech play. 

At the fund’s launch, CarTrade said the move will enable it to acquire and invest in companies that offer differentiated services and technology in the automotive space.

CarTrade said it was actively scouting to invest in companies across auto sub-segments, including auto finance, leasing, insurance, servicing, car ownership, electric vehicles and clean energy, along with new-age tech startups in domains such as augmented reality (AR), artificial intelligence (AI) and visualisation, to digitise the auto buying journey.

Chanakya (Opportunities Fund I)

Chanakya Fund Trust launched its maiden INR 100 Cr ($12.5 Mn) sector-agnostic fund in April 2023 to invest in startups and SMEs. The SEBI-registered Category-II alternative investment fund, Chanakya Opportunities Fund I, will also have a greenshoe option of INR 100 Cr. 

The fund will invest about INR 2 Cr-INR 10 Cr each in about 25 companies, raising capital from resident and non-resident Indians, high-net-worth individuals, banks, accredited investors, corporates and trusts.

“Chanakya Opportunities Fund I is our first offering. We are planning to raise INR 100 Cr in the first year. This is a close-ended fund, and we will be accepting subscriptions for the tenure of five years from the first close with a maximum of two extensions of one year each,” said, Kresha Gupta, the founder and fund manager of Chanakya Fund Trust.

Chiratae Ventures (Growth Fund I)

Early stage venture capital (VC) firm Chiratae Ventures announced the final close of its Growth Fund I at INR 1,001 Cr. The fund saw its first close in November 2022, when the VC firm first closed the growth fund at INR 759 Cr.

Founded in 2006, Chiratae Ventures currently manages assets worth $1.1 Bn and is known for backing early stage startups. It has backed 130-plus startups across SaaS, consumer tech, health tech, deeptech, agritech, fintech and other domains.

Chiratae Growth Fund I is a sector-agnostic fund that has been set up to invest in the growth rounds of startups. 

Courtside Ventures (Fund III)

VC firm Courtside Ventures rolled out a $100 Mn fund, the third from the firm, to make investments in startups operating in sports, online gaming and lifestyle segments. 

According to Deepen Parikh, partner at Courtside Ventures, with the fund, the VC firm will continue to invest with conviction in great founders and disruptive ideas in crucial verticals of sports, fitness, collectables and gaming.

The VC firm said that it would onboard a slew of professional sports team owners, athletes and industry executives as limited partners of the fund. So far, it has invested in about 80 startups, including The Athletic, WinZO and FanCraze, across eight countries.

Dallas Venture Capital

VC firm Dallas Venture Capital announced the first close of its INR 350 Cr fund at INR 100 Cr in January this year. The fund will invest between $2 Mn and $5 Mn in 15 to 18 enterprisetech startups over four years.

Speaking with Inc42, Fund Partner at DVC Kiran Kalluri said that the fund was so far operating in stealth mode but has invested in many startups. 

Dallas said that the fund would be largely focused on growth-stage startups earning revenue over $500K. The fund is backed by India and US-based HNIs and institutional investor IIFL. It has backed five Indian startups to date, including Disprz, IntelleWings, VuNet, BluSapphire and Hippo Video.

Early Spring

Early Spring, set up by Spring Marketing Capital, received a commitment of INR 100 Cr from Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL) this April. The new fund has a corpus of INR 300 Cr and will make investments between INR 5 Cr and INR 20 Cr in seed and Pre-Series A funding rounds.

Founded by Raja Ganapathy, Arun Iyer and Vineet Gupta, Spring Marketing Capital closed its first close at INR 150 Cr and continues to invest in companies at the Series A level and beyond.

It has invested in Purplle, Bewakoof, Juicy Chemistry, Smiles.ai and Mosiac Wellness since its inception.

Elev8 Venture Partners

In August 2023, Bengaluru-based growth venture capital firm Elev8 Venture Partners announced the first close of Elev8-Capital Fund 1 at $67 Mn. Family offices and high-net-worth individuals (HNIs) from India, the Middle East, and Asia participated in the first close of the fund.

Elev8 Venture Partners began its operations in early 2023 after receiving AIF category II licence from SEBI late last year.

The VC firm plans to invest in 12-14 startups, with valuations ranging from $100 Mn to $500 Mn. It will be participating in Series B and Series C funding rounds (typically in the range of $10 Mn to $15 Mn) of startups in sectors such as consumer tech, enterprise software, fintech, and healthtech.

Epiq Capital (Fund II)

In June 2023, Mumbai-based growth and late stage tech investment firm Epiq Capital announced the final close of Epiq Capital II at $225 Mn.

Established in April 2016 by former Matrix Partners India managing director Rishi Navani. Epiq Capital’s current portfolio includes eyewear unicorn Lenskart, local language content platform Dailyhunt, and fitness startup Curefit, among others

The fund II will invest in the next Tech Nifty 50 companies, which means, the fund intends to support startups that have the potential to be worth $50 Bn in the next ten years.

The fund II is looking at investing in around ten companies with an average cheque size of $20-25 Mn each.

Grayscale Ventures

Grayscale Ventures made the first closure at $10 Mn of its $20 Mn micro-fund in February 2023, targeting pre-seed startups across sectors such as AI, vertical SaaS and Dev-Infra (development infrastructure).

The VC firm, which was founded by Nikhil Kapur and Siddharth Verma, has limited partners (LPs) from Japan, India and the US. These LPs are operators and founders of Slack, Zendesk, Hasura, GlobalWay, Nexus, STRIVE, Apollo Munich, and UOB, among others.

The micro-VC fund would make investments between $200K and $1 Mn in 15-20 pre-seed startups over four years. It is expected to see a final closure by Q3 2023. Further, the fund will target about 10% ownership in the invested startups, preferring to lead the fundraising rounds or co-lead them with other specialised funds.

GrowthCap Ventures

Pratekk Agarwaal, the former chief business officer at BharatPe, launched GrowthCap Ventures in August 2023. The SEBI-registered Category II alternative investment fund (AIF) plans to invest in 12-15 startups within the next two years.

Agarwaal is looking to raise INR 50 Cr for the fund to fund early stage Indian startups.

GrowthCap Ventures will look at seed to pre-Series A rounds, with a focus on fintech, SaaS and deeptech. The fund, which will invest $250K to $750K in each startup, is expected to mark its first close in the next two months.

Iron Pillar (Fund II)

VC firm Iron Pillar closed a $129 Mn fund in April, which will invest in Series B and Series C stage SaaS startups operating in India. The fund is part of the ‘Iron Pillar Fund II series’ of funds.

Founded in 2016, Iron Pillar offers growth capital and assistance to enterprisetech and consumertech startups to expand globally. It mainly leads Series B and C funding rounds and later doubles down on the breakout businesses with 5X to 10X of its initial investment. 

Its portfolio companies include Uniphore, Servify, FreshToHome, BlueStone, Skill-Lync and Curefoods, among others. The VC firm also claims to be managing $500 Mn in assets under management (AUM).

Lighthouse Canton

Investment firm Lighthouse Canton made the first close at INR 155.4 Cr ($20 Mn) of its INR 550 Cr ($69 Mn) venture debt fund in January 2023. The fund will invest in 35-40 Indian startups over the next two years.

Speaking with Inc42, Lighthouse Canton’s global head of asset management Sanket Sinha said that the fund saw participation from onshore and offshore institutions, family offices and other ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNIs). The fund would largely extend debt capital to Indian technology-enabled startups with ‘sound business models and viable unit economics’.

Lighthouse made its wealth management foray into India in 2020 while its India-focussed venture debt vertical was unveiled in 2022. Lighthouse also offers solutions ranging from funding solutions for startups to closely working with the founders on business structuring.

Lumikai

Gaming-focused venture capital (VC) firm Lumikai announced the launch of its second fund in June with a total corpus of $50 Mn. 

The fund raised $25 Mn of the total corpus at the time of the announcement and looks at a closure by the end of the year. 

Founded in 2019 by Justin Shriram Keeling and Salone Sehgal, Lumikai is a VC firm that focuses solely on the Indian gaming ecosystem and largely targets seed stage ventures. 

The fund will be deployed to invest in 18-20 early stage companies over the course of next few years.

MIXI

In August 2023, Japanese mobile entertainment company MIXI announced the launch of a $50 Mn (about INR 414 Cr) corporate venture capital (CVC) fund in India to invest in early stage entertainment and consumer services startups.

The CVC fund will invest in seed to Pre-Series B startups in the country, with a particular focus on Series A and Pre-Series A investments.

Founded in 1997, MIXI has created several communication services since its inception. The company’s investment arm claims to have invested around $492 Mn between FY19 and FY22.

MIXI has an existing CVC fund in Japan and is now looking to expand to markets outside the country. MIXI is one of the limited partners (LPs) in India’s gaming and interactive media venture fund Lumikai.

Multiples PE (Fund IV)

Mumbai-based private equity (PE) firm Multiples Alternate Asset Management announced the first close of its Fund IV in May with a subscription of over $640 Mn.

The fund saw investment from investors such as the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and International Finance Corporation (IFC), among others.

Founded in 2009 by Renuka Ramnath, Multiples PE invests in mid-sized companies and growth to late stage startups. A typical Multiples cheque is worth between $15 Mn and $50 Mn. 

Multiples Fund IV is one of the largest funds launched in India so far this year, ‘behind B Capital’s $2.1 Bn Growth Fund III and Nexus Ventures’ $700 Mn Nexus Ventures VII.

Nexus Ventures (Nexus Ventures VII)

VC firm Nexus Venture closed a $700 Mn fund, the Nexus Ventures VII earlier in March this year, to back startups working in AI, SaaS, fintech and commerce in India and the US.

The VC firm said it follows a ‘one fund one team’ approach and will help entrepreneurs build product-first companies in the US and India. 

Founded in 2006, Nexus counts global pension funds, family office and endowment funds as its investors.

It largely invests in tech-enabled startups based in the US and India. Its backers include global pension funds, family office and endowment funds. Some of its portfolio companies are Delhivery, Unacademy, Druva, PubMatic, PostMan, Covvalent, Intello, and Investment.

Omnivore (Fund III)

Mumbai-headquartered venture fund Omnivore announced the first close of its third fund, the Omnivore Agritech & Climate Sustainability Fund, at $150 Mn in June 2023. 

The fund will focus on startups developing breakthrough technologies for agriculture, food, climate, and the rural economy. The fund would make 25-30 new investments in seed to Series A rounds, with initial cheque sizes ranging between $1 Mn and $5 Mn.

Founded in 2011 by Mark Kahn and Jinesh Shah, Omnivore funds Indian startups in agritech and food systems. The VC firm has backed more than 40 startups, including DeHaat, Arya, Stellapps, Reshamandi, Ecozen, Aquaconnect and Pixxel.

Prath Ventures Fund

VC firm Prath Ventures made the first closure at INR 50 Cr ($6.25 Mn) of its INR 225 Cr (around $28 Mn) fund in January 2023. The fund will invest between INR 5 Cr and INR 6 Cr in about 20 startups and will also reserve a portion of funds for follow-on investments.

Set up in May 2022 by Piyush Goenka and Harmanpreet Singh, the VC firm has invested in more than 20 seed and growth-stage consumer brands. As per its website, some of its portfolio companies include PVR Cinemas, MyGlamm, Sanfe, ManMatters, and Vastu, among others.

The VC firm shared that the fund will focus on businesses offering products and services directly to end consumers. It will back consumer-focused startups as valuations are at reasonable levels and companies are now looking at building sustainable ventures.

PeerCapital (Fund I)

VC firm PeerCapital announced the first closure at $37.5 Mn of its $75 Mn maiden fund in February this year. The fund would write off cheques of about $2 Mn in seed and series A-stage funding rounds. PeerCapital aims to back startup founders that are building innovation for India and the world.

The Bengaluru-based VC firm is also an early-stage investor in the likes of investment platform Jar and social media platform Koo. Other than that, the VC firm has also invested in the social commerce platform Furrl, virtual and secondary phone numbers services provider Doosra and cloud-based workplace management software UrSpayce.

The fund will focus on startups operating in fintech, healthtech, enterprisetech, climate tech and consumer tech segments. It is expected to make a final closure by September 2023.

Physis Capital

Venture capital (VC) firm Physis Capital announced the first close of its maiden Category II Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) in May at $7 Mn. The VC firm said the fund’s total corpus was capped at $50 Mn and it targets to close the fund in 2024.

Angel investment platform Inflection Point Ventures (IPV) launched its new $50 Mn fund, Physis Capital, last year to promote startups raising early capital.

Physis Capital is looking to build a portfolio of 15-20 startups with an average ticket size of $2.5 Mn via the sector-agnostic fund.

Pi Ventures

Early-stage VC firm Pi Ventures announced the final close of its second fund with a total commitment of INR 702 Cr ($85 Mn) in August against its base target of INR 565 Cr.

Founded in 2016 by Manish Singhal, Pi Ventures closed an INR 225 Cr first fund (Fund I) in 2018. With its first fund, it backed 15 deeptech startups, including Niramai, Pixis, Wysa, Agnikul, and Locus, just to name a few.

The VC firm’s second fund, which was launched in 2021, has received investments from BII, Nippon India Digital Innovation AIF, Flipkart founder Binny Bansal, Mamaearth founder Varun Alagh, Info Edge CEO Hitesh Oberoi, MakeMyTrip founder Deep Kalra, Accel, and other high-net-worth individuals and family offices.

Piper Serica Advisors (Angel Fund)

Portfolio management firm Piper Serica secured INR 75 Cr for its INR 100 Cr angel fund in January this year. The fund, which was launched last year, focuses on early-stage tech startups. In a statement, the company said that it expects to raise the remaining INR 25 Cr shortly to invest in startups with ‘exponential growth models’.

Piper Serica said it was using its proprietary AI, ML-based tool, Yoda.ai, to screen investment opportunities. It informed that it would back a supply chain management startup, a CRM tech startup, a cybersecurity company, and a learning management solution company.

So far, the fund has backed ALT Mobility, Crediwatch, ZFW Dark Stores, Driffle and Oditly.

Rockstud Capital (Investment Fund II)

In March 2023, asset management firm Rockstud Capital rolled out an INR 300 Cr ($36.4 Mn) second fund, the Rockstud Capital Investment Fund II, to make investments in 25 Indian startups operating in the digitalisation, sustainability, financial inclusion, consumption and health sectors.

The parent firm Rockstud Capital, which was founded in 2017, has backed multiple companies so far, including Everest Fleet, BigHaat, Instoried, Smartvizx, Fabheads, and NOTO.

The fund will make investments between INR 1 Cr and INR 10 Cr in Pre-Series A and Series A funding rounds.

RTP Global

Early stage venture capital (VC) firm RTP Global announced its RTP IV fund in June 2023 with a corpus of $1 Bn to invest in startups across the US, Europe and Asia.

The $1 Bn fund will be split into two parts – while $660 Mn will be earmarked for its early stage investments, $340 Mn will be infused in RTP IV’s ‘breakout’ portfolio companies.

RTP Global will reserve one-third of the corpus for investing in startups in India and Southeast Asia. RTP Global has so far invested in over 30 Indian startups and counts Indian startups like CRED, Rebel Foods, and MPL its portfolio company.

Speciale Invest (Growth Fund I)

VC firm Speciale Invest launched its INR 200 Cr growth fund, Speciale Invest Growth Fund I, in April 2023,  with an additional up to INR 100 Cr in greenshoe. The VC firm said it would close the fund in the coming months.

The VC firm will use the capital to fund portfolio companies working in spacetech, green hydrogen, robotics, green mobility, quantum tech and AI-led platforms, among others. Speciale has backed 18 companies via its first fund and plans to invest in 20-22 early-stage companies with its second fund.

Founded in 2017, Speciale Invest largely invests in early-stage startups from emerging areas such as deeptech, AI-led SaaS, robotics, micro-electronics, and spacetech.

Stride Ventures (Fund III)

Venture debt firm Stride Ventures announced the first close of its third venture debt fund in May at $100 Mn. It is aiming for the final closure of the fund at over $200 Mn.

Stride Ventures said the fund will make investments in fast-growing startups that exhibit robust business models, strong unit economics, and skilled management teams.

Set up in 2019, Delhi-based Stride Ventures is led by Ishpreet Gandhi and Abhinav Suri. So far, the fund has invested in over 100 startups across sectors such as consumer internet, SaaS, fintech, and B2B platforms. 

The Neon Fund

The hosts of the 100x Entrepreneur podcast (now called The Neon Show), Siddhartha Ahluwalia and Nansi Mishra launched a $25 Mn fund, Neon, in July.

Neon fund will focus on early stage B2B SaaS companies and aims to help them to scale to more than $10 Mn in annual revenue within five years.

Ahluwalia and Mishra’s previous $10 Mn fund, 100x Entrepreneur, invested in over 40 B2B SaaS startups, including Airmeet, Astra Security, CloudSek, InFeedo, KNOW app, Profit.co, Phyllo, and SpotDraft.

Together Fund II

In late July, Bengaluru-based Together Fund announced the first close of its $150 Mn second early stage fund, Together Fund II, which is focussed on SaaS and AI startups.

Together Fund II will invest $1 Mn-$5 Mn in seed and Series A rounds of startups.

The VC firm was launched by Girish Mathrubootham, the founder and CEO of Freshworks, Eka Software’s founder and CEO Garg, ex-Matrix Partner Shubham Gupta, and Avinash Raghava, an ex-Accel executive. Kula, Privado, Revenue Hero, Spendflo, Spry, and Toplyne are among the portfolio startups of Together Fun.

Unitus Ventures (Opportunity Fund)

VC firm Unitus Ventures marked the first closure of its $40 Mn Opportunity Fund in February this year. The fund will largely back early-stage startups from its portfolio of other two funds viz. Unitus Ventures Fund I and Unitus Ventures Fund II.

The investment firm would also set aside 20% of the fund amount for deals outside of its existing portfolio to focus on Series A startups working in AI and climate tech segments. It also plans to do a final closure of the fund by the end of this year. 

So far, the fund has pumped money into five startups, including HRtech platform BetterPlace, edtech startup Cuemath, lendingtech platform Eduvanz, gig worker platform Awign and upskilling company Masai.

V3 Ventures

Early-stage VC firm V3 Ventures shared plans of investing about INR 900 Cr in startups operating in India, Europe and the US in April. 

The fund, which is backed by international investment company Verlinvest, will focus on early-stage digital and consumer businesses across new-age brands, technology, enablers and platforms at seed and Series A stages. 

Founded in 2021 by Arjun Vaidya and Lopo Champalimaud, V3 Ventures can leverage the global investment company’s network of partner companies, teams and advisors. So far, V3 Ventures has backed the audio content platform Kuku FM and digital healthcare app Eka Care in the country.

Varanium Capital 

Mumbai-based asset management company Varanium Capital announced the first close of its maiden venture debt fund in July 2023, which has a target corpus of INR 250 Cr, with a greenshoe option of INR 50 Cr.

Varanium Capital has secured the backing of domestic and global LPs, along with an anchor investor for the venture debt fund.

The firm said it will back around 100 startups in India via revenue-based financing and traditional venture debt.

Veda VC

Bengaluru-based early stage venture capital (VC) fund Veda VC announced the first close of its INR 250 Cr fund in August 2023, led by family offices and startup CXOs.

Founded in 2020 by Vasant Rao, Avijeet Alagathi, Venus Dhuria and Ashis Nayak, Veda VC claims to be one of the first operator VCs in India. Besides capital, the team at Veda brings domain knowledge, ecosystem network, execution skills and craft to help portfolio companies reach PMF, scale faster and raise follow-on capital.

The SEBI registered Category 1 AIF fund plans to invest between $250K to $1.25 Mn in technology and tech-enabled startups in India.

Vertex Master Fund III

Vertex Ventures, the venture capital arm of Singapore’s state investor Temasek, marked the first close of its latest fund, Vertex Master Fund III, at around $900 Mn. Set up in 2021, Vertex Master Fund III closed its first round at the end of June 2023.

The VC firm, which has invested in 71 startups so far, has backed big Indian startups like Licious, Firstcry, XpressBees, Grab, Kissht, and Kuku FM.

Vertex debuted in India in 2010 with India and Southeast Asia Fund. Over the last decade, it has dedicated four funds to investing in the region. 

ValueQuest Investment Advisors (VQ Scale Fund)

Private equity (PE) firm ValueQuest Investment Advisors rolled out a $121 Mn fund (VQ Scale Fund) to back late-stage startups in March this year. Through its new fund, ValueQuest will invest primarily in late-stage opportunities. 

The fund will have a target size of INR 700 Cr. There is also a green shoe option of INR 300 Cr, which would potentially take the total fund size to INR 1,000 Cr. 

The VQ Scale Fund was sponsored by ValueQuest founder and CIO Ravi Dharamshi, while Dharamshi’s family office anchored it with an investment of INR 100 Cr. It also received commitments from Indian family offices.

WinZO (Game Developer Fund IV)

Gaming startup WinZO rolled out the fourth edition of ‘Game Developer Fund’ in March this year. The $50 Mn fund would make investments of up to $10 Mn in a gaming startup. It further plans to invest as much as $10 Mn in US-based gaming startups.

Founded by Nanda and Saumya Singh in 2018, WinZO is an online skill-based gaming startup that associates with third-party developers to host games on its mobile-based application.

In 2021, WinZO launched the third edition of the gaming-focused fund, having a corpus of $20 Mn. Under these funds, WinZO has backed several gaming companies to date, including the likes of Upskillz, IndiGG and Bombay Play, among others.

Women Entrepreneurs Early Growth Fund

Early stage venture fund AWE Funds revealed the first close of its maiden fund in India, the Achieving Women Entrepreneurs Early Growth Fund I, at $15 Mn in June this year.

AWE Funds is targeting a corpus of $45 Mn for the fund, with a greenshoe option of $15 Mn. The early stage venture fund typically invests in Pre-Series A and Series A rounds, mostly post-revenue companies

The fund aims to invest in scalable innovations in sectors such as climate tech, agritech, healthtech, edtech and fintech while promoting gender equity and climate action as a strategy.

Z3Partners

VC firm Z3Partners marked the final closure at INR 550 Cr (around $69 Mn) of its fund in January 2023. The fund was backed by institutional investors like HDFC Life and SIDBI.

Founded in 2019 by Gautam Patel, the VC firm will invest between INR 50 Cr and INR 80 Cr in 8-10 early and growth-stage tech startups working in SaaS, fintech, ecommerce, B2B commerce, agritech, big data, consumer tech and tech-enabled segments. 

Back in 2021, Z3Partners raised INR 100 Cr, marking the first close of its maiden fund with a target corpus of INR 730 Cr ($100 Mn) targeting high-growth startups across consumer and enterprise sectors.

Zero To One

Investment firm Zero To One (ZTO) has announced an INR 300 Cr (about $48 Mn) fund in January 2023 to make investments in Pre-Seed and Series A funding rounds. The fund focuses on Indian startups operating in edtech, healthtech, agritech, medtech and cleantech segments. 

Founded in May 2022 by Praveen Kaushik and Rahul Massey, ZTO claims to have a network of more than 500 angel investors, HNIs and VCs across India, Singapore, Dubai, the US and the UK.

The VC firm said its screening mechanism assists in identifying startups for investments. It also provides investors with a syndicated platform to share their risks and diversifies their portfolios to get maximised returns.

(Last updated on August 31)