Pi Ventures Closes Second Fund at $85 Million, Focused on Deeptech Startups
- ByStartupStory | August 3, 2023
Pi Ventures, an early-stage venture firm focusing on AI and deep tech startups, has successfully closed its second fund at Rs 702 crore ($85 million), exceeding the initial target of Rs 565 crore. The fund received support from various institutional players like BII, Nippon India Digital Innovation AIF (NIDIA), Accel, Colruyt, Premji Invest, as well as entrepreneurs and family offices.
SIDBI has also returned as a significant investor in Pi Ventures’ second fund, committing Rs 100 crore from the Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS), which is about 2.5 times the FFS’s investment in the first fund. The second round had its first close in January 2022, raising Rs 303.5 crore ($40 million) from Accel, entrepreneurs, high-net-worth individuals, and family offices.
Pi Ventures plans to maintain its focus on early-stage investments, including seed, pre-Series A, and Series A, emphasising AI and other forms of deeptech across sectors like blockchain, space-tech, biotech, and material sciences. The fund has already invested in seven startups and aims to invest in 20-25 more within the next two to three years.
Manish Singhal, founding partner of Pi Ventures, expressed optimism about building deeptech companies in India, contributing to positioning the country on the global deeptech map.“India is a great place to build deeptech companies. We are privileged to have a role to play in the journey to put India on the deeptech map of the world,” said Manish Singhal, founding partner, Pi Ventures.
Established in 2016, Pi Ventures previously closed its Fund I of $30 million in 2018, supporting 15 deeptech startups, including Niramai, Pixis, Wysa, Agnikul, and Locus.
Recently, the Indian government proposed a draft national deep-tech startup policy with various themes, including access to funding, strengthening intellectual property rights, and fostering deeptech startups’ growth through shared infrastructure and resource sharing.
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