Equirus Group Marks Final Close of Maiden Early-Stage VC Fund at ₹166 Cr

Equirus InnovateX Fund (EIF), the early-stage venture arm of Equirus Group, has announced the final close of its maiden tech-focused fund at ₹166 crore. 

EIF focuses on participating in seed and pre-Series A funding rounds of B2B companies in deep tech, SaaS, and fintech, typically backing teams that are post-product and working toward product-market fit. The fund aims to partner with founders solving structurally complex problems with clear distribution strategies and defensible models, while prioritising long-term sustainability.

The fund was first floated in January 2024 with a target corpus of ₹207 crore ($25 million).

The fund has already deployed over one-third of its corpus, investing in seven startups, including Pointo, Datazip, GreenStitch, CtrlB, Consuma AI, RSPL, and NeverInstall. The remaining capital is expected to be deployed over the next 12–18 months.

The fund’s limited partners (LPs) include prominent industry leaders such as Girish Gaitonde (Founder, Xoriant), MR Jyothy (Chairperson & MD, Jyothy Labs), Dhimant Bhayani (Founder, iRevo), Raj Narayanam (Founder and Executive Chairman, Zaggle), and Nitin Seth (Vice Chairman, GD Foods), among others.

“With Fund I fully closed, our commitment is to work closely with portfolio companies to help them scale responsibly, strengthen fundamentals and build institutions that stand the test of time,” Sunder Nookala, Partner at Equirus InnovateX Fund, said in a statement.

The announcement comes amid a surge in deep tech-focused investments in India. Recently, ValleyNXT Ventures launched its maiden ₹200 crore fund to back early-stage deeptech startups, while US-based Golden Sparrow Ventures marked the first close of its $20 million Fund II. Last month, Navam Capital closed its ₹315 crore Navam Venture Fund I to support Indian deep tech startups building for global markets.

Krishna Jha, Partner at Equirus InnovateX Fund, added, “As India’s startup ecosystem matures, we are seeing a new generation of audacious founders solving structurally complex problems. As a firm of ex-operators, our focus is on partnering with these founders as they walk the long road from early idea to enduring, category-defining company.”

Beyond capital, EIF supports founders with enterprise access, regulatory navigation, senior hiring, and fundraising preparedness. The fund emphasises strong governance and long-term value creation rather than short-term gains.