Artha Venture Fund aims to make around 12-14 new thematic investments in 2025. Including follow-on rounds, the firm plans to participate in 18-20 investment rounds in key themes such as applied AI, deeptech (particularly spacetech and semiconductors), affluent consumer brands, and fintech infrastructure.
“This period presents an opportune time due to historically low entry valuations, offering long-term growth opportunities,” Anirudh Damani, managing partner, Artha Venture Fund, told Fe.
Artha currently manages four funds, each tailored to specific venture strategies, including its flagship Artha Venture Fund, closed in 2021 with a corpus of Rs 225 crores, Artha Select Fund, launched in 2023 that selectively doubles down on the winners of Artha Venture Fund, and the Artha Continuum Fund (ACF), that operates deal-by-deal, offering curated investment opportunities primarily for family offices. To date, ACF and its associated investments have raised Rs 68 crores and aim to close 2025 with commitments exceeding Rs 110 crores. Artha also plans to launch a few more specialised funds focusing on unique strategies such as search funds and pre-IPO opportunities by Q3-Q4 of FY26.
A search fund is nothing but an investment fund that financially supports an entrepreneur seeking to acquire, manage and grow a small privately held company.
Artha also sees significant potential in agentic AI, capable of autonomous decision-making, and affluent consumer brands targeting India’s rapidly expanding segment of consumers earning above $15,000 annually. “Fintech infrastructure also remains critical as it underpins digital financial ecosystems,” he added. Some of the firm’s recent bets include Calligo, Futwork, APPL, GetWork, Clientell and InstaAstro.
Artha typically invests around Rs 4 crores in its initial investment round, providing early strategic support to promising startups. It then selectively doubles down in pre-Series A and Series A rounds, averaging investments of around Rs 16 crores at Series A. “Additionally, we maintain reserves to support our best-performing startups through at least two subsequent rounds (through ASF), ensuring sustained partnership and growth through their Series C round,” Damani added. The firm says that its investment philosophy is guided by the SCOUTE framework, which includes startups that solve real problems with clear demand validation, have the potential to become category winners with strong moats, optimised unit economics, unmatched right to win, are tech-enabled, not tech-first models and have exponential scale potential.
Talking about revival in startup funding, Damani said he anticipates a moderate rebound in funding activity this year, driven by pent-up demand and improving macro conditions. “However, investor expectations will remain high. Startups demonstrating robust fundamentals, clear profitability paths, and scalable business models will attract meaningful investments, maintaining a selective but more active investment landscape,” he said.
He believes a company’s first dharma is to be profitable, i.e., to run on its own grease. “Profitability is not a milestone to celebrate, it’s the default state for a business to exist. This shift back to fundamentals is healthy as it filters out ventures that were never meant to be businesses in the first place,” Damani added.