Artha India Ventures Raises ₹250 Cr in First Close of New Fund

Artha India Ventures has announced the first close of ₹250 crore for its second early-stage fund, Artha Venture Fund II (AVF II), which targets a total corpus of ₹500 crore. The Mumbai-based investor confirmed the development, stating that the fund will focus on seed-stage startups across sectors, including premium consumption, fintech infrastructure, applied AI and deep tech. 

The fund plans to invest in 36 startups with initial cheques of ₹4 crore and follow-up investments of up to ₹16 crore. The capital has been secured from a predominantly domestic base, with 90% of commitments coming from Indian limited partners, including family offices and exited founders, and the remaining 10% from international investors. 

Artha stated the fund will follow a four-year deployment cycle and target 15-20% ownership in its top portfolio companies.

Anirudh A Damani, managing partner at Artha Venture Fund, said the launch comes at a time when early-stage funding has slowed. “In the last eight months, barring one, India has recorded fewer than 100 seed investments per month, the lowest in nearly a decade,” he noted. 

He added that the drop in graduation rates from seed to series A signals a capital-starved environment. Despite market challenges, Damani believes conditions favour committed founders. “The tourist founders are gone; what’s left are serious entrepreneurs building sustainable, capital-efficient businesses,” he said.

AVF II builds on the performance of Artha Venture Fund I, which has delivered exits and backed companies such as Agnikul Cosmos, Everest Fleet and LenDenClub. The new fund will pursue a concentrated strategy, prioritising startups that are post-seed and post-revenue. 

“AVF II is not chasing volume; it’s chasing velocity, i.e., concentrated capital behind exceptional founders,” Damani stated.

The firm has also previously invested in prominent Indian startups like Hyderabad’s TakeMe2Space and Bengaluru’s GalaxEye and Calligo Technologies.

Artha India Ventures now manages over ₹1,500 crore in assets with more than 135 investments and 34 exits to date. The firm aims to leverage its network of over 150 limited partners and co-investors to support founders from seed to scale.