Theia Ventures Marks First Close Of Maiden Fund

Early stage venture capital (VC) firm Theia Ventures has announced the first close of its maiden fund with a target corpus of $30 Mn (INR 266.2 Cr).

A Category II alternative investment fund, the Theia Ventures Fund I will invest in startups in deeptech, energy transition and decarbonisation, developing technologies to decarbonise critical sectors such as heavy industry, manufacturing, material science, mobility, and supply chains.

The firm secured commitments exceeding 50% of its target corpus and has begun deploying capital, as per its statement. 

Founded in 2021 by Priya Shah, Theia Ventures invests in pre seed and seed stage startups building disruptive technologies across the energy sector, especially B2B startups in electric mobility and supply chain materials. 

It has roped in British International Investment (BII) as anchor investor alongside a mix of corporate venture arms, fund-of-funds, and family offices. Other global investors include Germany’s Allocator One, US-headquartered Cisco Foundation, and Australia’s Vitality Capital Partners. 

Domestic and global family offices backing the fund include Anand Mahindra, Thermax Group’s Meher Pudumjee, JM Financial, Vimson Group and Shivanand Salgaocar Group among others. 

Theia Ventures aims to back 18–20 early-stage startups with an average ticket size per investment between $500k- $1 Mn, reserving 50% of the corpus for follow-on investments. It aims to make the final close of its fund by the end of the current fiscal year (FY26). 

“We’re looking to invest in sustainable air fuels, green hydrogen and solar rooftops. Within clean mobility, we are looking at battery chemistry, B2B, logistics, green B2B, logistics and battery management solutions and charging infrastructure,” said Shah. 

Theia has already made investments in two platforms, aerospace startup Sarla Aviation and industrial biochar company Climitra Carbon. For context, Biochar is compressed biofuel which basically replaces coal in the steel manufacturing industry. 

The fund claims to have also signed cheques for two other companies one in precision fermentation (biotech) and another is AI-based energy data modelling, with further investments expected to be announced in early 2026. Its portfolio also includes Exponent Energy, AltM Bio, OctoLife, and Metastable Materials. 

Climate change and sustainable development goals have brought the focus on climate tech and resilience solutions. The vast sector, spanning renewable energy, electric mobility, energy storage, and sustainable materials, has emerged as a key investment theme amid global shifts towards green and responsible financing. 

Venture capital firms, corporates, and government-backed funds are channeling more capital into startups developing climate-resilient and low-carbon technologies. Earlier this year, Commerce minister Piyush Goyal announced the launch of the ‘Bharat Cleantech Manufacturing Platform’.  

The platform is aimed at unifying stakeholders from policy, industry, finance, and research to spur cleantech manufacturing in the country across sectors such as solar, wind, hydrogen, and battery storage. The initiative has been designed to enhance India’s cleantech value chain.