New Delhi: Impact-investing platform Aavishkaar Group plans to announce at least six investments in deeptech startups by 31 December, spanning technical textiles, deep agritech, tissue culture, materials science and spacetech, among other areas. The Mumbai-based group operates through several subsidiaries, including venture capital and impact-investing firm Aavishkaar Capital.
Aavishkaar Capital’s sixth fund, raised in 2023, has a corpus of ₹1,200 crore and typically invests ₹20 crore to ₹100 crore per company. The fund has deployed ₹800 crore so far, out of a total investable capital of ₹1,000 crore. As part of its deeptech push, the group also plans to launch its seventh fund next year, with a targeted corpus of around ₹2,000 crore.
“The general fundraising process launched last year. We are hoping to close by March to June,” said Vineet Rai, founder and vice chairman of Aavishkaar Group.
“As the world changes, Aavishkaar has to keep asking itself whether its investment style and its desire to deliver impact remain relevant in 2026. When I started in 2001, there was no spacetech, deeptech, fintech or agritech. I was not investing in these sectors,” he added.
Aavishkaar’s investment focus comes at a time when deeptech investment in the country has been rising. Mint reported in September that deeptech companies have raised $2.3 billion across just under 200 deals so far in 2026, according to data platform Tracxn, compared with $1.62 billion across 453 deals in all of 2025.
Aavishkaar Group, which has assets under management (AUM) of $1.2 billion, does not consider its interest in deeptech to be recent. Its focus on spacetech is relatively new, as the sector opened up only recently.
“We have been looking at technology and deeptech since 2003-04. We invested in Vortex Engineering, which developed low-cost ATMs for rural areas. We invested in several other businesses that were quite path-breaking,” Rai added.
Rai spoke to Mint at the third edition of the Sankalp Bharat Summit, a two-day impact-investing summit organised by Aavishkaar Group in Lucknow that ended on 28 October.
Rai’s approach to deeptech stems from his belief that technology allows businesses to leapfrog the challenges posed by physical infrastructure.
“Artificial intelligence (AI) is going to impact more lives than anything Aavishkaar has done so far. We believe deeptech can reach more people at a fraction of the cost of physical engagement,” Rai said.
Aavishkaar Capital has invested in Gnani.ai, an AI startup that is developing a speech-to-speech model under the government’s IndiaAI Mission, a ₹10,372-crore initiative that aims to build India’s AI ecosystem. Aavishkaar has also backed other companies, including debt-relief platform Freed, precision metal-processing company Poshs Metal Industries Pvt. Ltd and climate-tech startup Newtrace.
The investment firm, which previously sourced all its capital from foreign investors, now expects Indian investors to contribute 40-60% of its new ₹2,000-crore corpus, with the remainder coming from overseas. The shift reflects the growing depth of India’s domestic capital pool.
“Further, the rupee has depreciated against the dollar. Raising capital in rupees can help hedge against currency risks, as a weakening dollar can reduce returns when investments are measured in dollars,” said Rai.
Collaborating with other funds
In October 2025, Aavishkaar Group partnered with Jamwant Ventures to launch a ₹500-crore venture capital fund focused on early and growth-stage defence and deeptech startups in India.
Founded by former Indian Navy officers and public sector veterans, including commanders Navneet Kaushik and Kartik Gopal, Jamwant Ventures targets seed and Series A investments of $1 million to $5 million across defence, aerospace and deeptech.
“People might ask, ‘Vineet, Aavishkaar is an impact fund. How do you understand deeptech?’ Well, we don’t necessarily need to understand deeptech ourselves. There are better, smarter people who understand the sector,” said Rai.
Aavishkaar’s second partnership is with Riceberg Ventures, a global early-stage deeptech venture capital firm founded in 2023. Its investments include EtherealX and Manastu Space.
“Under this arrangement, we enter into an agreement with a fund manager who has some investment experience and wants to scale the business five-fold, ten-fold or twenty-fold. In that sense, we are a partner rather than a co-GP. They remain the GPs (general partners),” he added.
