Equirus InnovateX Fund (EIF), the early-stage venture arm of Equirus Group, today announced the final close of its maiden B2B tech fund at ₹166 crore. The fund’s first close was announced in February 2024.
Equirus InnovateX Fund 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 from day one.
The close attracted both domestic and global investors who bring operational experience and market access in addition to capital. True to its ethos – “by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs” – EIF counts a number of founders and operators among its backers, including Girish Gaitonde (Founder & Board Member, Xoriant), M.R. Jyothy (Chairperson & MD, Jyothy Labs), Dhimant Bhayani (Founder & CEO, iRevo), Raj P. (Founder & Executive Chairman, Zaggle), Shankar Vailaya (Former Director & Co-Founder, Sharekhan) and Nitin Seth (Vice Chairman, GD Foods).
The Fund is led by Krishna Jha, Sunder Nookala and Sadhika Agarwal, experienced founders and investors with strong operational backgrounds, and responsible for driving investments and managing the portfolio across the fund’s focus areas.
Sunder Nookala, Partner, Equirus InnovateX Fund, added: “At the seed and pre-series A stage, capital alone is not the differentiator – context and conviction are. Having built and backed companies ourselves, we understand the inflection points founders face around product-market fit, enterprise access and organisational build-out. With Fund I fully closed, our commitment is to work closely with portfolio companies to help them scale responsibly, strengthen fundamentals and build institutions that stand the test of time.”
Equirus InnovateX Fund 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 12-18 months.
Krishna Jha, Partner, Equirus InnovateX Fund, said: “As India’s startup ecosystem matures, we are seeing a new generation of audacious founders solving structurally complex problems. As a firm of ex-operators, our focus is on partnering with these founders as they walk the long road from early idea to enduring, category-defining company.”
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 rather than short-term value maximisation.
With the maiden fund now fully closed, EIF 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.
Notable angel investments of partners – Ajay Garg, Krishna Jha and Sunder Nookala – include Druva, Kwench, Adpushup, Sirona, Wow Momo, Credgenics, and GoComet.
About Equirus InnovateX Fund
A ₹166Cr SEBI-registered Category-I AIF focused on early-stage investments from Seed to Pre-Series A. The fund backs founders building in SaaS and DeepTech and Fintech, typically at post-product, pre-PMF stage. The Fund has invested in high-impact businesses across sectors, including: Pointo (Energy Efficiency: Battery Lifecycle Management), Datazip (Composable Lakehouse platform), GreenStitch (Fashion & Retail Focused ESG SaaS), CtrlB (Observability SaaS), Consuma (AI for Market/Consumer Insights) and RSPL (Semiconductor) and Neverinstall (Virtual Desktop Infra).
Founders Backing Founders: True to our ethos – “A fund for founders, by founders, and of founders,” Equirus InnovateX Fund is built with a deep understanding of what it takes to build at the earliest stages. We are on a mission to back bold ideas, brilliant minds, and transformative tech – supporting passionate founders who are building the future.
Website: https://www.equiruswealth.com/eif
About Equirus Group
Equirus Group is a leading full-service financial services firm specializing in investment banking, institutional securities, wealth and asset management, HNI broking, NBFC, and insurance solutions. With a “client always first” approach and a proven track record of delivering value creation, Equirus has built impeccable credentials across domains and sectors. Equirus has completed more than 330+ transactions across M&A, PE, IPOs, QIPs, Rights Issues, and Structured Finance, raising USD 15 billion in the process across sectors over the last 18 years, and has created a differentiation for itself through its ability to structure and deliver transactions in line with the client’s requirements.
