“The presence of GIC, BlackRock and Ram Sriram on the cap table implies a thesis that India’s launch market is a multi-decade infrastructure story, not a speculative tech bet,” says Vipul Patel, partner for seed investing at IIMA Ventures.
The round also saw participation from existing investors Merak Ventures, Java Capital, IIMA Ventures, and angel investor Manish Gandhi. As part of the funding, the startup plans to advance its flagship thermal satellite missions and further develop its AI-powered platform for thermal intelligence applications.
IIMA Ventures has averaged 6-8 exits from it's portfolio every year since FY 13
Ahead of International Women's Day, Priyanka Chopra, CEO and Managing Partner at IIMA Ventures, speaking to Outlook Business, reflects on her journey from working on the Solaris networking team at Sun Microsystems in Silicon Valley to helping build one of India’s most influential startup platforms. She discusses the evolution of India’s early-stage ecosystem, the importance of institutional support for founders building in frontier sectors, the need for greater representation in venture capital, and the lessons she has learned navigating leadership, career trade-offs, and the long game of building companies and institutions that shape the country’s future.
The expansion of startups in emerging regions has been supported largely by early-stage investors. Angel networks and seed-focused platforms such as Venture Catalysts, Inflection Point Ventures, and IIMA Ventures have been instrumental in funding early-stage ventures.
Funding support in these regions is largely driven by angel networks and seed-focused investors such as Venture Catalysts, Inflection Point Ventures, We Founder Circle, IIMA Ventures and SucSEED Indovation.
The use of EVs and advancement towards an electric economy, through booming sectors like EMS, semiconductors, and defence, has led to a surge in RE’s perceived importance worldwide. However, unlike oil, RE is even more geographically concentrated in terms of availability,” noted Vipul Patel, Partner, Seed Investing, IIMA Ventures.
IIMA Ventures, a technology-focused investment platform, aims to invest in 30 deep-tech startups from a ₹40 crore corpus under its partnership with Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi).
Early-stage venture capital platform IIMA Ventures plans to double its pre-seed and seed investment cheques up to $500,000 compared with the usual amounts of $50,000 to $200,000, top officials at the firm said. “Startups in the pre-seed and seed stage often require a continuum of capital ranging from $50,000 to $500,000 to truly unlock their potential," Priyanka Chopra, chief executive and managing partner at IIMA Ventures, told Mint, explaining the firm's rationale. “By expanding our investment capacity, we’re better positioned to meet founders where they are and fuel their growth from day zero."
With the conclusion of its third cohort, IIMA Ventures has now supported over 35 startups through this program, including past participants such as Third Wave Coffee, SatSure, ScrapUncle, Joyspoon, Riskcovry, Toprankers, Roopya, Credin, Heelium and others.
The startups were selected on the basis of a three days bootcamp held in Indore where the startups were trained in various sessions like business modelling, unit economics, B2G sales, applying for government tenders, etc
IIMA Ventures has been an active investor in the healthcare sector and has invested in startups such as Biosense, Forus Health, Mestastop, 5C Network, and Onward Assist.
The round also saw participation from existing investors Merak Ventures, Java Capital, IIMA Ventures, and angel investor Manish Gandhi. As part of the funding, the startup plans to advance its flagship thermal satellite missions and further develop its AI-powered platform for thermal intelligence applications.
Orbitt Space, a startup founded by former ISRO scientists, has raised $1 million in pre-seed funding. The Ahmedabad-based firm is developing electric propulsion and avionics systems for ultra low earth orbit satellites, aiming to improve satellite manoeuvrability, reduce costs, and enable advanced earth observation and communication missions.
The entire round consists of INR 10 Cr where apart from Shreyas Iyer, the team got investments from IIMA Ventures, renowned industry experts like Tarun Katial (Founder of Zee 5) and family offices in US.
Nabhdrishti Aerospace, a deep-tech start-up pioneering indigenous gas turbine engine development, has raised Rs 3 crore in a funding round led by IIMA Ventures (formerly IIMA-CIIE).
Revidd, an AI-driven video streaming solution company, announces a product which will enable broadcasters to launch their own Free Ad-supported Streaming Television (FAST) channels in under five minutes.
Equity Investment by three incoming investors; led by Marwah Sports, CIIE.CO and Faad Network. With more than 100k combined downloads from PlayStore and AppStore, the gamers’ social network showcases its commitment to solution-driven experiences
