Aavishkaar plans six deeptech bets by December, targets ₹2,000-crore fund
Aavishkaar Capital has invested in Gnani.ai, an AI startup that is developing a speech-to-speech model under the government’s IndiaAI Mission, a ₹10,372-crore initiative that aims to build India's AI ecosystem. Aavishkaar has also backed other companies, including debt-relief platform Freed.
Aavishkaar Group, an impact-investing platform based in Mumbai, plans to announce at least six investments in deep tech startups by December 31, according to a recent report. The investments will span various sectors including technical textiles, deep agritech, tissue culture, materials science and spacetech. Aavishkaar Capital, the group's venture capital arm, raised its sixth fund in 2023 with a corpus of ₹1,200 crore.
So far, the fund has deployed ₹800 crore out of a total investable capital of ₹1,000 crore. The group intends to launch its seventh fund next year with a targeted corpus of around ₹2,000 crore. Vineet Rai, founder and vice chairman of Aavishkaar Group, believes that the rise of deep tech investment in the country is a positive trend.
He stated that Aavishkaar has been investing in deep tech since 2003-04 and sees technology as a way to leapfrog challenges posed by physical infrastructure. Rai also mentioned that Aavishkaar Capital previously sourced all its capital from foreign investors, but now expects Indian investors to contribute 40-60% of the new ₹2,000-crore corpus.
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