Early-stage venture capital (VC) firm AUM Ventures has made the first close of its India Innovation Fund II at Rs 225 crore ($23.6 million), as it looks to ramp up investments in the deeptech sector.
The firm is targeting a total corpus of Rs 750 crore, according to media reports.
The VC plans to invest in early-stage startups building for the world, with a focus on globally competitive, IP-led technology companies in India. It is betting on sectors including space tech, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, aerospace, defence tech, robotics, energy transition, advanced manufacturing, and other frontier technologies.
The fund has participation from both existing and new investors, according to media reports. More than 65% of the corpus raised in the first close has come from international limited partners, including leading family offices, entrepreneurs, and strategic investors from markets such as the US, the Middle East, and other parts of the world.
The firm plans to invest at the pre-seed and seed stages, with initial cheques ranging from $750,000 to $2 million. It also plans to reserve capital for follow-on investments through Series A and Series B rounds.
AUM Ventures’ first fund had a corpus of $30 million and invested in startups including Skyroot Aerospace, Smiles.ai, Svish, Esports XO, Fenix, Myways.ai, and Firstsense.
Deep tech as a sector is seeing growing traction in India, with both investors and the government stepping up efforts to build the country’s technology ecosystem. While a growing number of investors are raising funds to back deeptech startups, the Indian government is also rolling out initiatives to strengthen the sector and support the development of homegrown technologies.
Last year, the government approved a Rs 1-lakh-crore ($12 billion) Research, Development, and Innovation Fund-of-Funds (RDI Scheme) to help build a competitive deeptech ecosystem.
Among other investors that have raised capital to invest in the sector, VC firm BlueHill Capital raised over Rs 300 crore (about $33 million) earlier this year. More recently, Inflexor Ventures made the first close of its third fund , securing commitments totalling $40 million, as it looks to step up investments in India’s early-stage startups across science, engineering, and technology.
