While the funding raised by Indian startups remained flat quarter-on-quarter at $3.1 Bn in the first quarter of 2025, investors continued to accumulate dry powder. A total of 23 funds worth over $3.2 Bn were launched in the March quarter to back Indian startups, as per Inc42’s ‘Indian Tech Startup Funding Report, Q1 2025’.
Amid the ongoing debate over the lack of deeptech innovations in the country, a limited investor interest in deeptech was seen in new fund launches in Q1 as well.
Only three out of the 23 funds launched for startups in Q1 2025 focussed on the deeptech sectors such as robotics, frontier models in AI, semiconductor, EV infrastructure, next-gen healthcare, defence tech, aerospace and drones, and more.
A majority of the funds launched in the first quarter are focussed on sectors like fintech, consumer services, and enterprise grade AI solutions.
Six funds worth $1.18 Bn were launched with a focus on fintech, enabling it to continue its reign as the favourite sector of investors. It is worth noting that fintech startups raised the highest amount of funding at $739 Mn across 33 deals in Q1.
Trailing fintech was AI, with five funds worth $1.13 Bn launched for the sector in the previous quarter. Meanwhile, SaaS and consumer tech saw four dedicated fund launches in the first three months of 2025.
From a stage-wise lens, the early stage continued to be the darling of investors in Q1. Seventeen funds worth close to $1.5 Bn were launched to invest in early stage startups during the quarter.
While six funds were launched to back growth stage startups, only two were launched to cater to startups in the late stage.
Besides the fresh fund launches, another key investment trend during the quarter was the increase in the number of startups going for debt funding.
The most active investors during the quarter were venture debt firms Stride Ventures and Alteria Capital, backing 27 and 26 startups, respectively.
Now, let’s take a look at the top VC and PE funds launched this year to shape the future of Indian startups.
| Fund Name | Fund Type | Fund Size | Stage Focus | Sector Focus |
| 2am VC | Venture Capital | Undisclosed | Early Stage | Consumer Tech, Fintech, F&B, AI, SaaS |
| A Junior VC | Venture Capital | $17.5 Mn* | Early Stage | Sector Agnostic |
| Accel India [Fund VIII] | Venture Capital | $650 Mn | Early Stage | AI, Consumer Tech, Fintech, Manufacturing |
| All In Capital [Fund II] | Venture Capital | $34.8 Mn* | Early Stage | Consumer Tech, Deeptech, Fintech, Consumer Brands |
| Avendus Future Leaders Fund (FLF) III | Private Equity | $350 Mn* | Late Stage | Financial Services, Consumption, Digital & Technology, Healthcare, Manufacturing |
| Bessemer Venture Partners | Venture Capital | $350 Mn | Early Stage | AI, SaaS, fintech, Digital Fealth, Consumer Brands, Cybersecurity |
| Bharat Value Fund [Fund III] | Venture Capital | $289 Mn* | Growth Stage | Sector Agnostic |
| Cornerstone Ventures [Fund II] | Venture Capital | $200 Mn* | Early To Growth Stage | SaaS |
| Earth Fund | Venture Capital | $35 Mn* | Early Stage | Real Estate Technology, Construction Tech, Cleantech, Climate Tech |
| Eximius Ventures [Fund II] | Venture Capital | $30 Mn | Early Stage | Fintech, AI, SaaS, Frontier Tech, Consumer Tech |
| IIFL Fintech Fund [Fund II] | Venture Capital | $23 Mn | Early Stage | Fintech |
| IXP Lifesciences Catalyst Fund | Venture Capital | $23.3 Mn | Early To Growth Stage | Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology, Medical Technology, Speciality Chemicals, Agrotechnology, Nutraceuticals |
| Kotak Alt [Life Sciences Fund] | Venture Capital | $185 Mn | Early To Growth Stage | Medical Devices, Digital Health, Consumer Wellness, Diagnostics, Delivery |
| Prime Venture Partners [Fund V] | Venture Capital | $100 Mn | Early Stage | Fintech, AI, SaaS |
| Prudent Investment Managers | $57.8 Mn | Early To Growth Stage | Sector Agnostic | |
| Riceberg Ventures | Venture Capital | $20 Mn | Early Stage | Deeptech |
| SamVed | Venture Capital | $50 Mn | Early Stage | AI, Agritech, Healthcare, Fintech, Ecommerce, Upskilling, Consumer Brands |
| Trifecta Capital [Fund IV] | Venture Debt | $230 Mn* | Growth To Late Stage | Fintech, EV, Consumer Products & Services, Logistics, New-Age Manufacturing, B2B Services, Renewable Energy, Sustainability |
| Triton | Venture Capital | $28 Mn* | Early Stage | Enterprise SaaS, SMB Tech, Agentic AI, Deeptech, Tech-Enabled Services |
| Venturi Partners [Fund II]** | Venture Capital | $225 Mn | Growth Stage | Consumer Brands, Retail, Education, Healthcare, FMCG |
| White Whale Ventures | Venture Capital | $29 Mn | Late Stage | Fintech, Consumer |
| Wipro Ventures | CVC | $200 Mn | Early To Growth Stage | Enterprise Software Solutions |
| Yashaa Global Capital** | Venture Capital | $75 Mn | Early To Growth Stage | Sports Tech |
| Note: *Including green shoe option **India is one of the investment focus areas Fund Size: Refers to total corpus of the fund and not the amount raised in the current year Data as of Mar 27, 2025 Source: Inc42 |
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Let’s take a detailed look at the largest funds to back startups launched in Q1 of 2025.
Note: The funds have been arranged in a descending order based on the corpus size.
Accel Capital Bags $650 Mn To Float Its Fund VIII
US-based venture capital firm Accel Capital bagged $650 Mn for its eighth India fund to back early stage startups. The VC firm claimed that 131 undisclosed investors participated in the fundraise.
With this fund, the VC firm is looking to back startups operating in segments like AI, consumer brands, fintech, and manufacturing.
Accel, which counts unicorns like Moneyview, Flipkart, Swiggy and Moglix in its portfolio, last raised $650 Mn for its VII fund in March 2022. Last year, the VC firm rolled out the fourth cohort of its flagship pre-seed investment programme Atoms between September-November.
Under this programme, Accel invested $1 Mn each in the selected startups.
Avendus Marks First Close Of $350 Mn Future Leaders Fund III
PE firm Avendus PE Investment Advisors marked the first close of its Future Leaders Fund III (FLF III), which has a target corpus of $350 Mn (INR 3,000 Cr), including a green shoe option of INR 1,500 Cr, at INR 850 Cr in January.
Avendus plans to back 12-14 late stage startups with an average ticket size of INR 150 Cr to INR 300 Cr via the fund.
The investments would be made in startups operating in sectors like healthcare, technology, consumer goods, and manufacturing sectors. In a statement, Avendus said then that it was in the process of finalising its first investment in the healthcare sector.
The PE firm invested in companies like Lenskart, Juspay, SBI General Insurance, and Sagility Technologies under its FLF I & II funds. Besides, it also counts Delhivery, VerSe Innovation (Dailyhunt), Licious, Zeta and FirstCry among its portfolio companies.
Avendus also launched its third private credit fund with a target corpus of up to INR 4,000 Cr, along with a greenshoe option of INR 2,000 Cr, in the March quarter.
Bessemer Venture Partners Closes Its Second India-Focussed Fund
Bessemer Venture Partners closed its second India-focussed fund with a total corpus of $350 Mn (INR 3,052 Cr) last month. With this fund, the VC firm plans to invest in startups operating in AI-enabled services and SaaS, fintech, digital health, consumer brands and cybersecurity sectors.
However, it did not disclose the number of startups which it plans to back with the fund.
The firm’s partner Vishal Gupta told Inc42 that it is looking to make initial investments in startups in the early stage and will be allocating separate funds to participate in follow-on rounds.
Prior to this, Bessemer closed its first India-focussed fund at $220 Mn. It counts more than 80 Indian startups, including LivSpace, Home First Finance, PharmEasy, BigBasket, Swiggy, Urban Company, and Perfios, in its portfolio.
Pre-IPO Focussed Bharat Value Fund III Marks First Close
Bharat Value Fund, managed by the Wealth Company Pvt Ltd (erstwhile Pantomath Capital Management Pvt Ltd), marked the first close of its third investment fund at INR 1,250 Cr (around $144 Mn) in January.
The total target corpus of the fund is INR 2,500 Cr ($289 Mn), including a greenshoe option of INR 1,000 Cr. The fund aims to invest in mid-market, high-growth enterprises with revenues between INR 300 Cr and INR 1,000 Cr.
In 2024, Wealth Company floated its second Category II AIF with a total corpus of INR 2,000 Cr ($240 Mn).
Trifecta Capital Launches Fourth Fund Worth $230 Mn
Venture debt firm Trifecta Capital, which counts Atomberg, BigBasket and BlueStone among its portfolio companies, announced the first close of its INR 2,000 Cr (around $230 Mn) venture debt fund in January this year.
While the firm didn’t disclose the amount at which it marked the first close of the fund, it said that it had received commitments to the tune of half of the total corpus and expects to announce the final close of the fund by the end of this year.
Launched in August last year, the fourth fund also includes a greenshoe option of INR 500 Cr.
The sector-agnostic fund will invest in startups across sectors like fintech, EV, consumer products and services, logistics, new-age manufacturing, B2B services, renewable energy, and sustainability.
It plans to invest in more than 100 startups, with an average ticket size of INR 25 Cr to INR 30 Cr.
Venturi Partners Launches Second Fund To Back Indian Consumer Brands
Livspace-backer Venturi Partners launched its second fund in March with a corpus of $225 Mn to back consumer brands in India and Southeast Asia.
The fund will focus on sectors like retail, edtech, healthcare and FMCG. The Singapore-based investment firm is eyeing the first close of the fund at $130 Mn by June this year.
Venturi Partners is planning to invest $15 Mn to $40 Mn each in 10 startups from the second fund.
Founded in 2019 by Nicholas Caror, the firm’s portfolio includes Country Delight, Believe, Pickup Coffee, DALI, K-12 Techno Services, among others.
Venturi Partners’ first fund, which had a corpus of $175 Mn, invested in seven companies across sectors such as education, retail, beauty and home interiors.
Cornerstone Ventures Marks First Close Of $200 Mn Second Fund
Early stage-focussed VC firm Cornerstone Ventures announced the first close of its second fund at $40 Mn (around INR 345 Cr) in January. The fund has a target corpus of $200 Mn, including a greenshoe option.
The VC firm said that domestic investors, including high-net-worth individuals (HNIs), family offices, corporates, and other institutions, took part in the fund raise.
Cornerstone plans to invest $5 Mn to $15 Mn each in B2B marketplaces in sectors like financial services and insurance, retail, consumer goods and ecommerce, distribution and supply chain, healthcare products and services from the second fund.
It made its first investment from the second fund in a late stage startup as part of its pre-IPO round. It is planning to mark the final close of the fund by December this year.
Cornerstone floated its first fund of $50 Mn in 2019, and invested in 21 startups, including Mystifly, NimbleBox.ai, CreditNirvana, UniAcco, among others, from it.
Wipro Commits $200 Mn For Its VC Arm To Back Early-Mid Stage Startups
IT giant Wipro committed $200 Mn to its venture arm, Wipro Ventures, in February to accelerate investments in early to mid-stage startups.
Incorporated in 2015, Wipro Ventures has backed 37 startups across sectors like AI, data and analytics, cybersecurity and cloud infrastructure to date.
It claims to have invested in several early stage, enterprise-focussed and cybersecurity-themed venture funds in India, the US and Israel.
Wipro Ventures counts Tuskira, Tradeshift, Vectra, NetSpring, Kibsi, among others, in its portfolio. It backed D2C startup Let’s Try through its arm, Wipro Consumer Care – Ventures, in July last year.
Kotak Alt Marks First Close Of $185 Mn Life Sciences Fund
Kotak Alternate Asset Managers (Kotak Alt) marked the first close of its third life science-focussed fund at INR 250 Cr (around $29 Mn) in January 2025.
The fund, with a total target corpus of INR 1,600 Cr ($185 Mn), raised the first round of capital from family offices, UHNIs (ultra-high-net-worth individuals), industry veterans and other financial institutions.
The fund will invest in early to growth stage startups operating in the life sciences space spanning segments such as medical devices, digital health, consumer wellness, diagnostics and delivery.
Founded in 2005, Kotak Alt claims to manage assets worth over $22 Bn across various classes such as private equity, real estate, infrastructure, special situations, private credit and investment advisory.
Prime Venture Partners Launches Fifth Fund To Back Early Stage Startups
Prime Venture Partners launched its fifth fund with a total corpus of $100 Mn in March 2025. The fund will primarily target early stage Indian ventures in sectors such as fintech, artificial intelligence (AI), global SaaS, and businesses digitising the Indian economy.
Initially, the fund will write cheques in a range of $2 Mn to $4 Mn each for 16-18 startups. It can also make follow-on investments of up to $12 Mn each in its portfolio companies over multiple rounds.
The investment firm claimed that its LPs had committed more than 80% of the fund’s corpus by March. Prime Venture Partners expects the fund to be fully committed by late-2025 and plans to start deploying the capital in H2 2025.
The VC firm, led by Amit Somani, Sanjay Swamy and Shripati Acharya, counts names such as Quizizz, PlanetSpark, Sunstone, MyGate, Dozee, WheelsEye, Niyo, Freo, KredX, OTO, Zuper and SurveySparrow in its portfolio.
