By Anicut Capital has launched a new fund, the Grand Anicut Seed Fund, targeting a corpus of Rs 175 crore with a Rs 75 crore greenshoe option.
The fund is registered with SEBI as a Category I Alternative Investment Fund and will invest across pre-seed to Series A stages in deep-tech, enterprise-tech, consumer and financial services startups.
Anicut aims to back over 20 startups through the vehicle, with typical cheque sizes ranging from Rs 5 crore to Rs 8 crore.
Three deals have already been closed, and the fund is targeting a first close of around $10 million within the next month, backed by institutional investors, high-net-worth individuals and family offices.
The fund is Anicut Capital’s second early-stage vehicle, coming after the Grand Anicut Angel Fund, which has invested in 68 startups since 2021.
Portfolio companies from that earlier fund have collectively raised more than Rs 6,000 crore in follow-on capital, with average revenue growth of tenfold.
Ajay Anand, Partner at Anicut Capital, said the firm’s early-stage strategy had been validated through the previous fund and that the new one aims to build on it.
The launch comes as Indian early-stage investors increasingly diversify beyond artificial intelligence into sectors like manufacturing, deep-tech and enterprise software.
The fund’s launch comes during a week in which Indian startups raised $209 million collectively, with manufacturing, aerospace, enterprise software and healthtech emerging as the top investment themes.
Anicut intends to deploy the fund over approximately three years, setting aside about 70 per cent for new investments and reserving the remaining 30 per cent for follow-on rounds.
India’s early-stage funding environment has seen investors increasingly diversify beyond artificial intelligence in recent months, with manufacturing, deep-tech, enterprise software and healthtech drawing larger allocations.
Category I Alternative Investment Funds registered with SEBI are typically used by venture capital and angel investment vehicles in India to pool capital from institutional and high-net-worth investors under a regulated structure.
(Image: Photo by Libreravi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)
