Theia Ventures, an early-stage investment firm, announced the first close of its maiden $30 million fund today. The fund has already secured commitments for over 50% of its target corpus and has begun deploying capital. British International Investment (BII) anchors the fund, joined by corporate venture arms, fund-of-funds, and family offices.
In addition to BII, the fund also counts global investors such as Allocator One (Germany), Cisco Foundation (US), and Vitality Capital Partners (Australia). Moreover, domestic and global family offices supporting the fund include Anand Mahindra, Meher Pudumjee of Thermax Group, JM Financial, Vimson: Shivanand Salgaocar Group, and Pramit Jhaveri, former CEO of Citibank India.
With a clearly defined investment thesis, Theia Ventures Fund I plans to back 18–20 early-stage startups that are developing innovative technologies to decarbonize critical sectors, such as heavy industry, manufacturing, material science, mobility, and supply chains. Furthermore, the firm typically invests between $500,000 and $1 million in each startup, while reserving over half of the fund for follow-on investments.
Through Fund I, Theia Ventures has already invested in Sarla Aviation, an Accel-backed electric air taxi startup, and led a pre-seed round in Climitra Carbon, a biocoal company serving the steel industry and founded by a Stanford GSB, IIT-Bombay, and IIT-Dhanbad team. Additionally, the fund has backed two more companies focusing on precision fermentation (biotech) and AI-based energy data modelling, and it plans to announce further investments in early 2026.
The fund expects to complete its final close by the end of the current financial year.
Priya Shah, Founder & Managing Partner of Theia Ventures, said, “We are thrilled to officially announce Theia’s first close and to partner with BII as our anchor investor, as well as other incredible stakeholders. Theia’s objective remains clear: to unlock much-needed, early stage capital towards Indian companies building transformative technologies to disrupt the energy status quo.”
“Petroleum or coal-based products and processes are now being rapidly replaced by cleaner fuels and energy sources, which presents a huge opportunity for startup innovation and growth, particularly in emerging sectors such as carbon removal, novel materials, data centres, clean mobility, renewable energy and biotech. It’s fantastic to see international capital flowing into India to support talented founders building bold solutions that will shape the future,” Shah added.
Shilpa Kumar, Managing Director and Head of Asia at BII, said, “Through our partnership with Theia, we are delighted to support early-stage companies developing unique climate technologies that can protect the planet and vulnerable groups in India. The climate emergency affects every aspect of life. Our investment will help accelerate technology development to reduce emissions and enhance climate resilience among low-income groups. This is aligned with our goal of contributing to India’s clean energy transition.”
