Kul Bhushan · · 2 min read🇮🇳 early-stage VC firm raises $40m in first close of second fund
Pi Ventures, an early-stage VC firm based in India, has announced the first close of its second fund at 3 billion rupees (US$40 million).
Pi Ventures founding partner Manish Singhal / Photo credit: Pi Ventures
The fund launched in 2021 with a base target size of US$75 million, along with a greenshoe option that would put the fund’s size at US$100 million. The fund is expected to close in mid-2022.
The first close was backed by global family offices, high-net-worth individuals, and entrepreneurs. Some of the key names who participated are Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal, Mamaearth co-founder Varun Alagh, and senior leaders from IBM, Facebook, and Google, among others.
The fund will invest in 20 to 25 startups that focus on AI and other deeptech solutions across sectors such as blockchain, spacetech, biotech, and material science. The firm will continue to focus on early-stage investments, covering seed, pre-series A, and series A rounds.
Set up in 2016 by Manish Singhal, Pi Ventures concluded its first fund in 2018 at US$30 million. The firm pointed out that the first fund had exceeded its target and received backing from investors from around the world. The first fund backed 15 deeptech startups, including Niramai, Pyxis, Wysa, Agnikul, and Locus.
See also: A list of India’s unicorns and their early investors
Currency converted from US dollar to Indian rupees: US$1 = 74.39 rupees.
Editing by Miguel Cordon and Lorenzo Kyle Subido
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