Aavishkaar Capital is positioning itself at the forefront of India’s deep-tech impact investing journey, according to Anurag Agrawal, senior partner at the firm and one of the founding members of Aavishkaar Group.
“Over the next decade, impact investing in India will grow via domestic patient capital, deep tech integration for sustainability goals, and beyond-early-stage strategies balancing returns with indigenisation,” Agrawal told AsianInvestor.
Agrawal said that the firm wants to play a leading role in shaping this transformation. “Aavishkaar intends to take its ecosystem approach to Indian deep-tech investing by building capability of these early-stage companies around human resources, governance, and preparing them to deal with capital markets once they have scaled,” he said.
As one of India’s pioneering impact investors, Aavishkaar Capital has spent more than two decades cultivating businesses aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Its philosophy, Agrawal said, is to deliver “impact at scale with commercially benchmarked returns,” focusing on underserved markets across financial inclusion, sustainable agriculture and essential services.
“Our investment philosophy guides our deployment through multi-stage strategies from seed to growth, with active involvement in strategy, operations, and exits to ensure scalability and mainstream capital attraction,” he said.
DEEP TECH STARTUPS
In 2026, Aavishkaar plans to launch the Aavishkaar Next Gen Fund, targeting INR 2,000 lakh crore ($219 million).
“This fund intends to take Indian deep-tech companies to scale by acting as a bridge between the early-stage seed investors and the capital markets while remaining sector-agnostic within impact themes,” Agrawal said.
He said that the new fund will identify high potential deep tech startups both at early and early growth stage in areas such as energy security and efficiency, modern manufacturing, circular economy, climate action and tech for creating more efficient and equitable markets in core areas such agriculture, inclusive finance, education and health.
“Fund VII prioritises deep tech to address sovereign needs like energy security, data infrastructure and advanced manufacturing, supporting India’s strategic self-reliance with patient capital,” he said.
Alongside Fund VII, Aavishkaar has partnered with Jamwant Ventures to launch a dedicated INR 500 lakh crore joint venture fund targeting seed and Series A defence and deep-tech startups.
Agrawal said that the firm actively monitors portfolio metrics such as capex overruns, leverage ratios, burn rates, and cash runway.
“Both frameworks emphasise follow-on flexibility, active value-add in governance and scaling, and diversification buffers across themes,” he said.
COMMON THREAD
Beyond financial returns, Aavishkaar measures success through a dual impact framework: direct company-level outcomes such as jobs created, customer outreach, CO2 emissions reduction, and gender participation, alongside systemic market-level shifts like crowding-in capital in underserved markets, indigenisation of supply chains, policy interventions, and ecosystem development.
Aavishkaar Capital, the impact investment arm of the Aavishkaar Group, manages approximately $500 million across nearly 90 companies in Asia and Africa. Its alternative investment funds are backed by leading global institutions, including the International Finance Corporation (IFC), British International Investment (formerly CDC Group), Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) Development Bank, the Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF), and Société de Promotion et de Participation pour la Coopération Économique (Proparco), alongside family offices and foundations.
As investment advisor, Aavishkaar Capital sources opportunities, drives portfolio growth, and executes strategic exits. Impact remains the common thread across all funds under its management.
Its portfolio spans financial inclusion, sustainable agriculture, climate mitigation, and essential services such as education and healthcare, with investments ranging from stable revenue-generating firms to high-growth startups.
Recent Fund VI investments include consumer brands like Zouk and Go Desi, financial inclusion players Altum Credo and Electronica Finance, agritech firm Agrostar, and deep-tech ventures such as NewTrace (green hydrogen), Vecmocon (EV components), and Work India (blue-collar jobs platform).
