Pi Ventures, an early-stage venture firm that invests in AI and deeptech startups, has announced the final close of its second fund with a total commitment of Rs 702 crore ($85 million), above the target of Rs 565 crore.
The fund is backed by multiple institutional players, including BII, Nippon India Digital Innovation AIF (NIDIA), Accel, Colruyt, and Premji Invest, as well as entrepreneurs and family offices.
SIDBI has also returned as a key investor in Pi Ventures’ second fund, with a Rs 100 crore commitment from the Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS), which is about 2.5 times what the FFS invested in the first fund.
FFS’ investment was announced in April, two weeks after the Bengaluru-based firm raised Rs 22 crore from Belgium’s Colruyt Group for its second fund.
Pi Ventures announced the first close of its second round in January 2022, with Rs 303.5 crore ($40 million) raised from venture capital firm Accel, entrepreneurs, high-net-worth individuals, and family offices.
With its latest fund, Pi Ventures will continue to focus on seed, pre-Series A, and Series A investments. The fund will continue to focus on AI and other forms of deeptech across sectors such as blockchain, space technology, biotech, and material sciences.
The fund has invested in seven startups, including ImmunitoAI, Ottonomy.IO, Silence Laboratories, Preimage and Zero Cow Factory. It plans to invest in 20-25 such startups over the next two to three years.
“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.
Pi Ventures, founded in 2016 by Singhal, completed its $30 million Fund I in 2018. The first fund backed 15 deeptech startups, including Niramai, Pixis, Wysa, Agnikul, and Locus.
The Indian government floated a draft national deep-tech startup policy on July 31, proposing changes across nine themes, including access to funding, strengthening the intellectual property regime, sustaining deeptech startups, and enabling shared infrastructure and resource sharing.
