Merak Ventures launches $100M fund for early-stage startups in India

Delhi-based Merak Ventures has announced the launch of its early-stage VC fund with a target corpus of $100 million.

Merak will invest in seed-stage B2B and emerging technologies companies creating sustainable business models and utilising new technologies to help solve real problems and create large-scale impact.

While the fund will remain sector-agnostic, some investment themes it will proactively chase include climate-tech (encompassing agritech, mobility, carbon, climate finance, and digital solutions), insurtech, and SaaS.

The VC firm plans to invest in 18-20 startups over the next three-four years.

Manu Rikhye, Partner of Merak Ventures, said: “There are passionate founders who want to solve real-world problems, and we want to empower them, not just with capital but as a mentor-partner. At Merak, we firmly believe businesses who solve authentic problems will always make for a sound investment.”

Merak’s Founders and Partners Rikhye and Sheetal Bahl are successful fund managers who have been investing in the Indian ecosystem for a decade now, of which the last six have been sharply focused on B2B and deep/ emerging tech. grow^x Ventures Fund I, which they continue to manage, has had a portfolio of 16 investments, including Cynlr, Pixxel, and Progcap.