Speciale Invest launches fund for deep science, enterprise tech sector

Updated on: 6 April 2023 6:05 pm

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Speciale Invest, a venture capital firm focused on early-stage investments in deep science and enterprise technologies, has launched its Speciale Invest Growth Fund I. The new fund has an initial investment of Rs 100 crore and has received approval from the Security and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to provide series A and above funding to technology startups, supporting India's enterprise and deep-tech startup ecosystem.

Speciale’s investment philosophy will focus on emerging technology areas such as space tech, aerospace, green hydrogen, robotics, batteries, quantum tech, AI-led SaaS, developer tools, data infrastructure, and large language model applications and infrastructure.

Speciale Invest was founded in 2017 by Vishesh Rajaram and Arjun Rao, who had invested in deep-science and tech companies, including Ultraviolette, Agnikul Cosmos, ePlane Company, Cynlr, Qnu Labs, Galaxeye Space, Uravu Labs, NewTrace, e-TRNL Energy, Wingman, StreamAlive, Airboxr and Trainn.

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"Deep science and enterprise technologies have the power to revolutionize industries and solve some of the world's most pressing problems. Our newly launched Growth Fund I is a testament to our commitment to investing in high-potential technology startups, and we look forward to working closely with founders building for the world from India," said Rajaram.

“Our new Growth Fund I is an extension of our vision and commitment to expanding our investment strategy to support high-performing technology startups from our portfolio at the Series A and beyond stages. With an initial investment of Rs 100 crore and plans to increase it further in the coming months, we look forward to partnering with promising startups and providing them with the resources and guidance they need to achieve their full potential,” added Rao.

In 2018, Speciale Invest raised its first fund of Rs 60 crore, which backed 18 companies with an average deal size of sub-$0.5 million and scored five early exits. On April 6, 2022, the company announced the final close of its second fund at Rs 300 crore, with plans to invest in more than 20 to 22 early-stage companies through pre-seed and seed rounds. The average cheque size ranged from $500,000 to $1 million.