Former Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar Floats VC Fund To Back Defence, Aerospace And Deeptech Startups

Former defence secretary Ajay Kumar has reportedly floated a VC fund to back early stage startups in the defence, aerospace and deeptech sectors.

Kumar’s INR 250 Cr (around $29.9 Mn) MountTech Growth Fund has secured approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), and also received subscriptions worth INR 280 Cr, while it is also set to invoke the green-shoe option for another INR 250 Cr, ET reported, citing people close to the matter.

Sources also said that the first scheme of the fund is called Kavach.

Kumar will head the fund as the chairman, and former senior telecom industry executive Ravi Sethia will join as the chief executive, the report added.

Inc42 has reached out to Kumar for comments on the development. The story will be updated based on his response.

Based on his LinkedIn profile, most recently, Kumar served as the professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, for over 18 months. Prior to that, he served the government in the field of defence, since 2017 and retired in 2022.

The fund is primarily sponsored by Suryakant Dalmia, board member of Dalmia Securities. Also the fund is raised from a few other high-net-worth individuals and domestic family offices as limited partners or sponsors, said the report.

Kumar’s entry into the market comes at a time when aerospace, defence and deeptech industries are gaining attention from the central government.

Earlier this year, the union cabinet approved a substantial investment of INR 10,372 Cr over five years for the India AI Mission. Also, with initiatives like Make In India, the country aims to reduce its reliance on imports of defence equipment and technology and increase its defence exports to seize a share of the $2.1 Tn global defence market.

The burgeoning deeptech scene in India, comprising more than 3,000 startups across diverse sectors, signifies a promising landscape ripe for investment.

According to Inc42’s H1 2024 Startup Funding Report, Indian startups cumulatively raised investments worth $5.3 Bn in the first six months (H1) of the calendar year 2024.

About two weeks ago, Bengaluru-based spacetech startup GalaxEye Space made a deal with iDEX to build a multi sensor fusion processing system for miniature satellites that would be capable of carrying multiple payloads up to 150 kg for the Indian Air Force (IAF).

Pixxel also inked a deal with the Ministry of Defence under the iDEX scheme to manufacture miniaturised multi-payload satellites for the Indian Air Force.