Equirus InnovateX Fund announces final close of B2B tech fund at Rs 166 Cr

Equirus InnovateX Fund (EIF), the early stage venture arm of the Equirus Group, has announced the final close of its maiden B2B tech fund at Rs 166 crore. The fund’s first close was announced in February 2024.

According to EIF, it backs seed and pre Series A companies building in deep tech, SaaS, and fintech, typically teams that are post product and working toward product market fit. The fund aims to partner with founders solving hard problems with clear distribution and defensibility, and who are building for long term sustainability.

The close attracted both domestic and global investors who bring operational experience and market access in addition to capital. EIF counts a number of founders and operators among its backers, including Girish Gaitonde, M.R. Jyothy, Dhimant Bhayani, Raj P., Shankar Vailaya, and Nitin Seth.

The fund is led by Krishna Jha, Sunder Nookala, and Sadhika Agarwal, founders and investors with strong operational backgrounds, who are responsible for driving investments and managing the portfolio across the fund’s focus areas.

EIF states that it has deployed over one third of the corpus, backing seven startups from Fund I, with a target portfolio of up to 15 companies. Active investments include Pointo, Datazip, GreenStitch, CtrlB, Consuma AI, RSPL, and NeverInstall. The remaining capital is expected to be deployed over the next 12 to 18 months.

Beyond capital, EIF partners with founders on enterprise access, regulatory navigation, senior hiring, and capital raising preparedness. The fund emphasises strong governance and long term value creation. With the maiden fund now fully closed, it will focus on scaling its existing portfolio, selectively adding new companies, and deepening relationships with founders and long term capital partners as it lays the groundwork for its next fund.

A Rs 166 crore SEBI registered Category I AIF focused on early stage investments from seed to pre Series A, the fund backs founders building in SaaS, deep tech, and fintech, typically at the post product, pre PMF stage. The fund has invested in high impact businesses across sectors.