Navy Veteran Navneet Kaushik Floats Early Stage Fund To Back Defence Tech Startups

Former director at Technology Development Board (TDB) Navneet Kaushik has rolled out an angel fund to back early-stage tech startups in the defence space.

The Jamwant Venture Fund will operate as a Category I Angel Fund AIF. It is backed by SKI Capital, a SEBI-registered AIF and a SEBI-registered RTA & Category 1 Merchant Bank.

With a strategic focus on fostering innovation and indigenisation in the defence sector, the fund aims to identify and nurture groundbreaking initiatives that have the potential to transform the landscape of defence technology in India. It will primarily look into areas such as defence, aerospace and deeptech, particularly in product, materials and manufacturing domains, Kaushik told Inc42.

“We aim to be at the forefront of building a robust ecosystem that supports the growth of indigenous defence capabilities, contributing significantly to our nation’s self-reliance in defence technologies,” he added.

As of now, around 50 angels are associated with the fund. With a ticket size ranging between INR 25 Lakh and INR 2 Cr, the fund looks to back 5-10 startups with an initial corpus of INR 20-40 Cr.

With over 22 years of service in the Indian Navy and the government, Kaushik has spearheaded many customer-centric technology projects and is known for his adept negotiation tactics with international stakeholders across various regions including South America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa.

He has also played an instrumental role in advancing the board agenda to fund innovative technology and indigenization projects, leading to strategic investments in companies such as QuNu Labs, Bharat Biotech, Botlab Dynamics (pioneers in indigenous drones), Mylabs, and Biological E.

Furthermore, he claims to have guided 20 startups at the India Innovation Growth Program in Boston, USA, leveraging his expertise as an ecosystem expert while representing the Department of Science and Technology.

“Having served in the Indian Navy and Technology Development Board, I felt I am in the unique position to be able to connect the dots….The navy gave me experience of user’s understanding of technology, hands on experience of handling high value projects, defence acquisition and quality assurance while TDB taught me the ropes of evaluation of technologies from a commercialization point of view,” Kaushik added.