VCs & accelerators

100X.VC is a Mumbai-based, SEBI-registered Category I Alternative Investment Fund founded in 2019 by Sanjay Mehta and Ninad Karpe. It was the first venture capital fund in India to adopt iSAFE (India Simple Agreement for Future Equity) notes, a standardized single-document instrument designed to remove the extended legal negotiation typical of early-stage Indian term sheets. The fund runs a biannual, cohort-based selection process and has backed 180+ companies across 12+ cohorts to date.

Gives

Pioneered iSAFE notes for India in July 2019 — now widely replicated by other funds. Sector-agnostic (tech and non-tech). Over 10,000 applications per year for 15-20 spots per cohort. Becomes de facto lead investor and actively promotes portfolio companies to growth-stage investors for follow-on rounds.

3one4 Capital

Bengaluru, Karnataka · Est. 2015

3one4 Capital is a Bengaluru-based early and growth-stage venture capital firm founded in 2015, focused on backing mission-driven founders in consumer, deeptech, and enterprise categories. The firm is India's first VC signatory to the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), and its early funds (Rising I and Fund II) have been independently ranked among the top-performing India-focused VC funds of their vintage years by Preqin.

Gives

Early to growth-stage, ~110 companies invested to date with 5 unicorns and 30+ profitable exits. Known for hands-on support with hiring, go-to-market, and governance rather than purely capital deployment. Hosts the annual 3one4 Summit convening India's founder community.

A91 Partners

Mumbai, Maharashtra · Est. 2018

A91 Partners is a Mumbai-based growth equity firm founded in 2018 by VT Bharadwaj, Abhay Pandey, and Gautam Mago — all former Sequoia Capital India executives. The firm backs capital-efficient, growth-oriented Indian businesses across consumer, technology, financial services, and healthcare, positioning itself as an investment partner rather than a pure capital provider, with an explicit "commitments, not bets" philosophy.

Gives

Growth-stage focus, backing capital-efficient businesses rather than high-burn scale-at-all-costs models. 39+ companies invested to date including Digit Insurance, Sugar Cosmetics, and Atomberg Technologies. Founding team's prior Sequoia India experience gives it a strong network for later-round syndication.

Accel India

Bengaluru, Karnataka · Est. 2008

Accel India is the India practice of Accel, a global venture capital firm founded in 1983 and headquartered in Palo Alto, California. Accel established its India presence in 2008 and has become one of the country's most successful early-stage investors, having been the first institutional investor in Flipkart (at a $4M post-money valuation) and Swiggy (at a $2M pre-money valuation). The India team, based in Bengaluru, invests from seed through growth stage across AI, fintech, consumer, and manufacturing.

Gives

Invests from seed through growth stage; can pull in Accel's global growth fund for larger follow-on cheques into Indian portfolio companies. Fund VIII (2025) targets AI (agentic/LLM/SLM enterprise use cases), fintech wealth management and infrastructure, and Indian manufacturing/consumer. Aims to back ~40 of the roughly 300 high-quality India seed-to-Series-A companies it identifies annually.

Ankur Capital

Mumbai, Maharashtra · Est. 2014

Ankur Capital is a Mumbai-based, early-stage deep tech venture capital firm founded in 2014 by Ritu Verma and Rema Subramanian, investing in digital and deep science technologies — including AI, robotics, space tech, and semiconductors — addressing opportunities in markets overlooked by mainstream Indian VC, such as agritech and healthcare for underserved populations.

Gives

30+ company portfolio, backed by institutional LPs including the US Development Finance Corporation and the MacArthur Foundation. Notable portfolio companies include CropIn, Vegrow, String Bio, and Captain Fresh (the latter withdrew an IPO application to acquire a Spanish seafood company at a $1B+ valuation instead). Explicitly seeks "contrarian bets" in markets other funds overlook.

Antler India

Bengaluru, Karnataka · Est. 2020

Antler India is the Indian arm of Antler, a global early-stage venture capital firm founded in Singapore in 2017 and operating across 30+ locations worldwide. Antler expanded into India in late 2020 and runs a distinctive "Day Zero" model: it invests in individual founders before they have a co-founder, a company, or sometimes even a chosen idea, through an intensive in-person Residency program based in Bengaluru.

Gives

Invests in individuals, not companies — founders join without a co-founder or idea and can form teams during the Residency. Roughly 3% acceptance rate globally. Teams not selected for investment at the end of the Residency exit without giving up any equity. No fee to participate.

Axilor Ventures

Bengaluru, Karnataka · Est. 2014

Axilor Ventures is a Bengaluru-based early-stage seed fund and startup accelerator founded in 2014 by Infosys co-founders Kris Gopalakrishnan and S.D. Shibulal. The firm operates both a seed investment fund (ATF1 & ATF2) and a structured accelerator program, giving it a dual identity as both a hands-on accelerator for very early founders and an active seed-stage VC for later checks into the same portfolio.

Gives

163+ company portfolio with 1 IPO and 20 acquisitions to date, spanning supply chain, enterprise SaaS, agritech, healthcare, climate, and fintech. Over 75% follow-on investment rate for portfolio companies raising subsequent rounds — among the strongest in the Indian accelerator market. Runs a 400+ founder alumni community.

Bertelsmann India Investments (BII) is the India arm of Bertelsmann Investments, the venture capital platform of German media conglomerate Bertelsmann (founded 1835). Active in India since 2012, BII is a sector-agnostic venture capital fund investing directly from Bertelsmann's own balance sheet — not a traditional fund with external LPs and a fund-life clock — into early growth-stage tech startups.

Gives

Early growth-stage focus across healthtech, fintech, agritech, and edtech. Was the first institutional check in Eruditus. Led Shiprocket's Series C in 2018. Investing directly off Bertelsmann's balance sheet rather than a traditional external-LP fund structure gives it a longer time horizon than typical VC fund-life constraints allow.

Blume Ventures

Bengaluru, Karnataka · Est. 2011

Blume Ventures is one of India's longest-running early-stage venture capital firms, founded in 2011 by Karthik Reddy and Sanjay Nath. The Bengaluru-headquartered firm (with teams also in Mumbai, Delhi, GIFT City, and San Francisco) was among the first institutional investors in India to combine hands-on founder support with institutional-grade fund management. Blume invests primarily at seed and pre-Series A across consumer tech, fintech, healthtech, and deeptech, and is typically the first institutional investor in its portfolio companies.

Gives

Seed and pre-Series A focus, typically the first institutional cheque into a company. Fund IV (current, ~$290M) has backed EV player Battery Smart and exporter SaaS Sourcewiz. Fund V is deploying into healthtech, consumer, fintech, and deeptech as of late 2025.

Capria Ventures (India)

Bengaluru, Karnataka · Est. 2012

Capria Ventures is a Global South-focused venture capital firm formed in September 2023 when Unitus Ventures — India's leading impact-focused venture fund since 2012 — merged with its US affiliate Capria Ventures to operate under a single global brand. The India practice, based in Bengaluru, continues Unitus Ventures' original focus on early-stage startups serving low- and middle-income consumers across healthcare, education, and fintech, now expanded to include climate, agtech, and applied generative AI.

Gives

India portfolio (39 companies from two early-stage India funds) includes BetterPlace, Cuemath, Awign, Masai School, and Eduvanz. Expanding investment focus beyond original healthcare/education/fintech into climate, agtech, and applied generative AI as part of the Capria rebrand. Portfolio companies have collectively impacted 12M+ low-income lives and created 6,200+ jobs.

Chiratae Ventures

Bengaluru, Karnataka · Est. 2006

Chiratae Ventures (formerly IDG Ventures India) is a Bengaluru-based, technology-focused venture capital firm with an 18+ year history in the Indian startup ecosystem. The firm invests across early to growth stages and has raised dedicated growth-stage vehicles for companies at Series C and beyond, alongside its core early-stage funds. It publishes regular sector research (consumer tech, fintech, SaaS) in partnership with organizations like AWS and Google.

Gives

Invests across early and growth stages; runs a dedicated growth fund for Series C+ companies separate from its core early-stage vehicle. Launched the "Chiratae Sonic" DeepTech Program as a fast-track funding channel for frontier-technology founders.

Elevation Capital

Gurgaon, Haryana · Est. 2002

Elevation Capital (formerly SAIF Partners India) is a Gurgaon-headquartered early-stage venture capital firm investing across consumer tech, consumer brands, fintech, B2B SaaS/AI, deep tech, and healthcare. It was the first institutional investor in Paytm (investing over $100M across its journey) and has backed Meesho, Swiggy, Urban Company, and Spinny. In August 2025 it launched Elevation Holdings, a $400M late-stage vehicle for IPO-bound Indian companies.

Gives

Early-stage focus across consumer tech, consumer brands, fintech/financial services, B2B SaaS and AI, deep tech, and healthcare. Elevation Holdings (2025) is a separate late-stage vehicle specifically for companies preparing to go public on Indian exchanges, writing $20M–$50M checks.

Endiya Partners

Hyderabad, Telangana · Est. 2015

Endiya Partners is a Hyderabad-based early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2015, investing in globally relevant product startups across enterprise/industrial tech, healthcare, and deeptech. The firm operates as an "operator-VC hybrid," leading rounds and staying deeply involved in product rollout, hiring, and fundraising preparation rather than spreading capital thinly across a large portfolio.

Gives

Primarily seed and pre-Series A, with flexibility on both ends and capital reserved for follow-on rounds. Typically deploys ₹40-50 crore per company across multiple rounds when leading. Fund I focused on SaaS/cybersecurity/semiconductors/digital health; Fund II added biotech and intelligent mobility; Fund III (current) is heavily focused on AI and data alongside continued security, semiconductor, robotics, and healthcare bets.

GSF Accelerator

Gurgaon, Haryana · Est. 2012

GSF Accelerator, founded in 2012 by Rajesh Sawhney, was India's first multi-city startup accelerator, running cohort programs across Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. It combines seed capital with what it calls "mentorship capital" — structured coaching from a network of 250+ global mentors and experts, funded and backed by 30 superangels alongside VC partners including Blume Ventures. Its current flagship program is the GSF Founders Academy, a two-month acceleration program for early-stage founders.

Gives

India's first multi-city accelerator model, launched specifically to counter a gap where Indian VC funding often went to copycat ideas rather than original technology innovation. First cohort funded 25 startups (12 in the initial batch). 146+ tracked investments to date across its history.

India Quotient

Mumbai, Maharashtra · Est. 2012

India Quotient is a Mumbai-based, seed-first venture capital firm founded in 2012 by Anand Lunia and Madhukar Sinha, focused on startups building for Indian consumers and SMEs. The firm typically leads rounds and comes in as Day 1 investor, and deliberately keeps its fund size small to stay disciplined about staying at the seed stage rather than being pushed into later-stage investing.

Gives

Very selective — approximately 12-13 deals per year despite a large application volume. Half of Fund V's target corpus is reserved for follow-on investments in existing portfolio companies. Notable early bets made before a sector became "hot": Sugar Cosmetics before D2C, ShareChat before regional social media, KukuFM before audio content scaled.

IvyCap Ventures

— · Est. 2011

IvyCap Ventures is a sector-agnostic venture capital firm founded in 2011, born specifically out of a mandate to support entrepreneurs from India's premier educational institutions (IITs, IIMs, and similar). The firm invests across seed to Series B in deeptech, consumer tech, healthtech, fintech, edtech, SaaS, and enterprise tech, and has built explicit Sustainable Development Goals alignment into its investment philosophy.

Gives

60+ portfolio companies across India and global markets, spanning seed through Series B. Sustainability Development Goals are formally integrated into the investment philosophy, with portfolio companies expected to identify and track their own SDG-aligned indicators.

Kae Capital

Mumbai, Maharashtra · Est. 2012

Kae Capital is one of India's pioneering early-stage venture capital firms, founded in 2012 by Sasha Mirchandani, with offices in Mumbai and Bengaluru. The firm is sector-agnostic and typically the first institutional capital into a company, writing checks at pre-seed to pre-Series A across commerce, finance, healthcare, and technology — with a stated thesis of backing founders "when belief matters as much as capital."

Gives

90+ company portfolio with 3 unicorns (Porter, Zetwerk, InMobi) and 2 IPOs (Fractal Analytics, Nazara Technologies) to date. Combined portfolio value exceeds $7.7B, with over $2B in follow-on capital catalyzed into its companies by other investors. Currently sharpening focus toward AI infrastructure, intelligent automation, manufacturing resilience, and deeptech.

Kalaari Capital

Bengaluru, Karnataka · Est. 2006

Kalaari Capital is an early-stage, sector-agnostic venture capital firm based in Bengaluru, originally founded in 2006 as Indo-US Venture Partners by Vani Kola and Vinod Dham, and rebranded in 2012. The firm invests in Indian tech startups building for the domestic market or building in India for global markets, at seed and Series A, with a hands-on approach to finance, legal, business development, and customer-access support post-investment.

Gives

Seed and Series A focus, sector-agnostic. Runs the Kalaari Fellowship, a two-year full-time program building future VC/entrepreneurial leaders through mentorship and hands-on investment analysis. 157+ company portfolio with 8 unicorns and 3 IPOs to date.

Lightspeed India

— · Est. 2000

Lightspeed India is the India-dedicated practice of Lightspeed Venture Partners, a global multi-stage VC firm founded in 2000 with roughly $35B in global AUM. Lightspeed has invested in India for more than 15 years and formed dedicated India funds partway through that history. The India team invests from seed through growth stage across consumer, SaaS, fintech, and AI, with cross-border support through Lightspeed's US, Europe, and Israel offices.

Gives

Seed through growth, comfortable leading rounds. 74 India portfolio companies to date as of its Fund IV raise. Deliberately sized its India fund at the lower end of large peers ($500M vs $650M+ for Accel/Elevation/Nexus) as an intentional strategy choice, per partner Bejul Somaia. Annual "Lift Off" summit connects portfolio founders with global LPs and co-investors.

Nexus Venture Partners

— · Est. 2006

Nexus Venture Partners is an India-US cross-border venture capital firm founded in 2006 by Naren Gupta, Sandeep Singhal, and Suvir Sujan — technology entrepreneurs rather than traditional finance professionals. The firm partners with founders at inception, seed, or Series A and invests primarily in enterprise software, SaaS, and digitally-driven consumer startups, with partners physically based in both India and Silicon Valley.

Gives

Roughly 80-85% of deals are done at seed or Series A, before other institutional capital enters. Cross-border model: partners are physically based in both India and Silicon Valley, and the firm actively encourages portfolio companies to establish US operations early. Current focus: AI, SaaS, fintech, and commerce.

Orios Venture Partners

Mumbai, Maharashtra · Est. 2013

Orios Venture Partners is a Mumbai-based early-stage venture capital firm, investing since 2008 as private investors and formally operating as Orios from 2013, with additional offices in Gurugram and Bengaluru. The firm runs every portfolio company through its "Founders for Founders" Misfits Program, pairing new founders with experienced ones from its own portfolio for hands-on support through the typical challenges of scaling — hiring, marketing on a shoestring budget, pivoting, and firefighting.

Gives

76-company portfolio with 3 unicorns and 3 IPOs to date, spanning fintech, consumer, deeptech, and IoT. Part of, or an early backer of, PharmEasy, Country Delight, Ola, Druva, GoMechanic, and Zupee. Strong focus on marketing/branding support post-investment, distinct from purely financial involvement.

Peak XV Partners

Karnataka · Est. 2006

Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India & Southeast Asia) is a leading venture capital and growth investing firm operating across India, Southeast Asia, and beyond, with teams in India, Southeast Asia, and the United States. It separated from global Sequoia Capital and rebranded from Sequoia India & SEA in 2022, building on a foundation laid over more than 20 years. Peak XV runs Surge, a widely-known accelerator-style rapid-scaling program for early-stage startups across the region.

Gives

Invests from seed through growth across India, Southeast Asia, and beyond. Operates Surge, a well-known rapid-scaling program for early-stage founders offering favorable terms and extensive resources — widely compared to Y Combinator's offering in the region. More than 100 global institutional LPs including universities, endowments, and sovereign wealth funds.

Prime Venture Partners

Bengaluru, Karnataka · Est. 2012

Prime Venture Partners (originally AngelPrime, rebranded 2015) is a Bengaluru-based early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2012 by Sanjay Swamy, Shripati Acharya, and Amit Somani — serial entrepreneurs with strong Silicon Valley relationships. The firm is almost always the first institutional investor in a startup and deliberately keeps its portfolio small (backing only 3-5 new companies a year) to allow deep, hands-on involvement with each founder.

Gives

Targets 16-18 early-stage companies per fund. Median check size has grown from ~$500K to ~$3.5M as the fund has scaled. Focus areas: fintech, AI, SaaS, and startups riding India's digital-first growth (UPI, Aadhaar, ONDC). Exits include Happay (acquired by CRED), Recko (acquired by Stripe), Perpule (acquired by Amazon), and Ezetap (acquired by Razorpay).

Rainmatter

Bengaluru, Karnataka · Est. 2016

Rainmatter is a perpetual investment fund launched by Zerodha (India's largest stock brokerage) in 2016, backing Indian founders across fintech, climate, health, and media. Unlike a traditional VC fund, Rainmatter is not stage-based, takes no board seats, and has no active exit mandate — it reinvests a portion of Zerodha's own earnings as patient, long-term capital rather than raising from external LPs against a fund-life clock.

Gives

Funded by Zerodha allocating 10% of its earnings to startup investment (a further 10% goes to the separate Rainmatter Foundation for climate/environmental grants). Portfolio concentration: climate tech (44 companies), health & fitness (41), fintech (37), plus media and deep tech. No fixed investment stage — backs businesses "holistically" rather than only at a specific round.