- Aum Ventures has announced the first close of ₹225 crore for its deeptech fund, which targets a total of ₹750 crore.
- The fund will focus on pre-seed and seed-stage companies in spacetech, semiconductors, defence-tech, AI, robotics, energy transition, and advanced manufacturing.
- More than 65% of commitments in the first close came from international limited partners across the US, Middle East, and other markets.
- The fund targets about $80 million (₹750 crore) and expects to invest in 25 to 30 companies, with initial cheques ranging from $750,000 to $2 million and capital reserved for later Series A and Series B rounds.
- Chetan Mehta, founding partner at Aum Ventures, stated that their ambition is to back exceptional Indian entrepreneurs from the earliest stages and help them build global companies.
- India is expanding public support for deeptech, including the ₹1 lakh crore Research, Development and Innovation Fund, Startup India Fund of Funds 2.0 with a ₹10,000 crore corpus, a dedicated Deep Tech Startup category, and Semicon 2.0 with an outlay of ₹1,27,500 crore.
Aum Ventures has announced the first close of its ₹750 crore deeptech fund, raising ₹225 crore to support Indian startups in sectors such as spacetech, semiconductors, defence-tech, AI, and robotics. The fund aims to invest in 25 to 30 companies, with initial investments ranging from $750,000 to $2 million.145
More than 65% of the commitments for this fund have come from international limited partners across the US, Middle East, and other markets. Chetan Mehta, founding partner at Aum Ventures, emphasized the firm’s ambition to support exceptional Indian entrepreneurs, stating, “With Fund II, our ambition is to back exceptional Indian entrepreneurs from the earliest stages and help them build global companies; companies that don’t just solve for India, but solve for the world.”3
The fund builds on Aum’s first fund, launched in 2023, which has shown promising results with a gross MOIC of 2.23x and a gross IRR of 53%. Notably, two portfolio companies have increased in valuation by more than 14 times their entry values. The fund's focus aligns with the Indian government's initiatives, including the Rs 1 lakh crore Research, Development and Innovation Fund and the Startup India Fund of Funds 2.0, aimed at boosting private-sector participation in high-risk R&D.891011
Aum Ventures is particularly interested in companies like Skyroot Aerospace, which recently became the first privately developed Indian rocket to reach orbit. The firm’s strategic investments reflect a growing trend in India’s deeptech ecosystem, supported by favorable government policies and increasing private capital inflow.
“The India Innovation Fund II will back pre-seed and seed-stage companies, with initial cheques of $750,000 to $2 million and reserves for Series A and B rounds. More than 65% of first-close commitments came from international LPs across the US, Middle East, and other markets.”
