Operator VC Veda Marks First Close Of Its INR 250 Cr Seed Fund

Bengaluru-based early stage venture capital (VC) fund Veda VC has announced the first close of its INR 250 Cr fund led by family offices and startup CXOs. 

The SEBI registered Category 1 AIF fund plans to invest between $250K to $1.25 Mn in technology and tech-enabled startups in India.

Founded in 2020 by Vasant Rao, Avijeet Alagathi, Venus Dhuria and Ashis Nayak, Veda VC claims to be one of the first operator VCs in India. Besides capital, the team at Veda brings domain knowledge, ecosystem network, execution skills and craft to help portfolio companies reach PMF, scale faster and raise follow-on capital.

“In 2019, we began as a community of founders aiming to assist other founders at the angel stage. Veda has become one of the most active seed investors, investing approximately $10 Mn annually across various startups. We remain committed to this mission as we scale up,” said Vasant Rao, founder and managing partner at Veda VC.

Veda VC invests in SaaS, consumer services, fintech and deeptech startups. So far, Veda VC has invested in 46 startups and counts the likes of Agnikul, Dukaan, Awiros, eloelo and Growth School in its portfolio. 

“As operators, we understand how tough the founders’ journey is and having seen the ups and downs of building and scaling up a startup, we decided to start Veda to enable seed stage founders with the knowledge and network to make better decisions,” added Alagathi.

In the last 20 months, startup funds worth $20 Bn+ have been announced or closed, including funds worth nearly $3.6 Bn in 2023 alone. 

Some of the most recent fund announcements include Elev8 Venture Partners announcing the first close of Elev8-Capital Fund 1 at $67 Mn, pi Ventures announcing the final close of its second fund with a total commitment of INR 702 Cr ($85 Mn) and Together Fund announcing the first close of its $150 Mn second early stage fund.

These closures come at a time when startup funding is at its lowest in the last three years. In the first half of 2023, startups raised $5.4 Bn, a 10% decline in funding amount, compared to the second half of 2022 (H2 2022) and on a year-on-year basis, startup funding declined 72% in H1 2023 compared to H1 2022.

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