AUM Ventures' ₹750 Cr India Innovation Fund II targets 25-30 deeptech startups, with cheques from $750K to $2M, led by GP Nisha Shah.
Alpha Score of 61 reflects moderate overall profile with strong momentum, strong value, weak quality. Based on 3 of 4 signals – score is capped at 90 until remaining data ingests.
AUM Ventures has opened its second vehicle, the India Innovation Fund II, with a ₹750 Cr target. The Category II AIF will place bets on 25 to 30 early-stage companies in spacetech, semiconductors, AI, and defence tech. Initial cheque sizes run from $750,000 to $2 million, with room for follow-on funding through Series A and B.
The fund's investments will be led by general partner Nisha Shah, who joined the firm last year after three years as COO at Narotam Sekhsaria Family Office. AUM Ventures launched in 2022 and has deployed roughly $30 Mn across 24 companies. Its portfolio includes Skyroot Aerospace, which recently became India's first spacetech unicorn at a $1.1 Bn valuation. Other holdings are Azimuth AI and Sanyark Space. Sharang Shakti, another portfolio company, was acquired by LAT Aerospace, a new venture from Eternal cofounder Deepinder Goyal.
AUM is not alone in chasing Indian deeptech. In recent months, Fundamentum Partnership cofounder Ashish Kumar launched Fundamentum Frontier Advisors, a stage-agnostic fund for consumer, enterprise, and physical AI. Piper Serica launched its Bharat Tech Fund. Shastra VC opened a $100 Mn fund for early-stage startups.
Policy has been a tailwind. The central government extended Startup India benefits for deeptech to 20 years and raised the turnover eligibility threshold for several schemes to ₹300 Cr from ₹200 Cr. The last two Union Budgets added the ₹1 Lakh Cr RDI scheme and the India Semiconductor Mission 2.0. Startups in deeptech raised about $500 Mn across 87 deals in 2025, making it the third most-funded sector. Q1 2026 added another $166 Mn.
The same factors that draw capital also draw competition. A crowded early-stage field means valuations may run ahead of revenue milestones. Policy support is real but implementation lags – the RDI scheme and semiconductor mission are still being structured. Talent for niche areas like spacetech and chip design remains scarce in India, pushing up burn rates. If the broader funding environment tightens, follow-on rounds may dry up before startups reach scale.
For now, AUM's second fund gives its existing limited partners a repeat bet on a sector that has already produced one unicorn. The test will be whether the next 25 to 30 names can match Skyroot's trajectory.
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