As the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad's Infuse Ventures fund nears full deployment, the institution prepares to launch the $150m Bharat Innovations Fund.
The Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad is preparing to launch a $150m fund, according to DealStreetAsia.
The vehicle, named Bharat Innovations Fund, will focus on the healthcare, agriculture and energy sectors. It follows on from the centre’s Infuse Ventures fund, which focused on the clean energy and green technology sectors.
Infuse Ventures has deployed more than 90% of its capital with the remainder being reserved for follow-on investments and bridge funding this year. New investments will be made out of the Bharat Innovations Fund.
While there will be some overlap between the two funds, the chief executive of Infuse Ventures, Kunal Upadhyay, confirmed that energy investment will only be a small part of the new fund’s investments.
Infuse Ventures was launched by the centre in 2013 as a partnership between International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group; oil company BP; the Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and its Technology Development Board; and IIM Ahmedabad.
Upadhyay, said: “The biggest challenge as always is financing for product or technology development and validation. There needs to be more soft capital available to entrepreneurs to help convert proof-of-concept to prototype before venture capital firms can come in.”
