Speciale Invest To Launch INR 1,400 Cr Fund

SUMMARY

The firm plans to raise the capital for the fund, Speciale Invest Growth Fund II, next year

The fund will invest in Series A and later stages of startups that have crossed technical validation and are poised to scale into revenue-generating businesses

In April 2023, it launched INR 200 Cr growth fund to participate in follow-on rounds of its existing portfolio startups

VC firm Speciale Invest plans to launch a growth stage fund with a target corpus of INR 1,400 Cr ($155.3 Mn) to back deeptech startups.

In a statement, the firm said it plans to raise the capital for the fund, Speciale Invest Growth Fund II, next year.

The fund will invest in Series A and later stages of startups that have crossed technical validation and are poised to scale into revenue-generating businesses.

Speciale Invest is looking to back 12-15 startups with a ticket size of $5 Mn to $8 Mn, a report by ET said.

Founded in 2017 by Vishesh Rajaram and Arjun Rao, Speciale Invest backs deeptech startups operating across sectors like AI-led SaaS, robotics, micro-electronics, and spacetech. The VC firm counts the likes of Agnikul Cosmos, The ePlane Company, GalaxEye, QNu Labs, Fermbox and InspeCity in its portfolio.

In April 2023, it launched INR 200 Cr growth fund to participate in follow-on rounds of its existing portfolio startups.

In September, Speciale Invest invested in defencetech startup Unmanned, along with Accel.

The development comes at a time when there is a rising interest from investors towards deeptech startups. Several investors, including 888VC, Riceberg Ventures, Chiratae Ventures, have launched funds for the deeptech sector in 2025 so far.

For instance, IIT Bombay’s startup incubator SINE unveiled Y-Point Venture Capital Fund, with a target corpus of INR 250 Cr, earlier this month to back early stage deeptech startups. In the same week, BYT Capital launched its maiden deeptech fund with a corpus of INR 180 Cr (about $20 Mn).

Earlier this year, eight prominent India and US-based VC firms together launched ‘India Deep Tech Alliance’ (IDTA) to infuse more than $1 Bn in the country’s deeptech startups over the next decade.

Meanwhile, the government has also been doubling down on sunrise deeptech sectors. In July, the Union cabinet also approved INR 1 Lakh Cr R&D fund.