Equinus InnovateX Fund (EIF), the venture capital arm of the Equitis Group specializing in early-stage financing of business enterprises, officially announced the last close of its maiden B2B technology-based fund of ₹166 crore. This is a milestone in concluding the funding exercise by the SEBI-registered Category I Alternative Investment Fund ( AIF ), which had publicly declared its first close in February 2024. The fund is well-placed to serve seed and pre-Series A startups, with a specific focus on founders creating defensible and sustainable businesses in the technology sector.
Investor participation and strategic focus
The final close was successfully achieved with a strong presence of both domestic and international investors. These investors have many successful founders and actual operators who not only offer monetary capital but also operational skills and market penetration. Some prominent figures amongst the fund sponsors are Girish Gaitonde, M.R. Jyothy, Dhimant Bhayani, Raj P., Shankar Vailaya, and Nitin Seth. The founders-for-founders approach emphasizes how the fund is dedicated to delivering great value mentorship in addition to investment.
Equius InnovateX Fund is a fund that mainly supports startups in the fields of SaaS, deep tech, and fintech. The investment team will usually target those companies that are at the post-product stage and are already striving to attain product-market fit. Through prioritizing complex problem-solving teams with well-defined distribution plans and enduring sustainability, EIF is slated to promote the upcoming generation of technological innovators that are capable of competing on a global platform.
The team of knowledgeable founders and investors, such as Krishna Jha, Sunder Nookala, and Sadhika Agarwal, is on the board of the fund. These leaders have robust operational experiences on the table. They use them to lead investments and portfolio management in all the core areas of the fund operations. In addition to straightforward capital positioning, EIF also works in-depth with its founders, assisting in aspects like access to the enterprise, regulatory environments, senior-level recruitment, and future-capital-raising preparation.
Deployment and current portfolio
The Equinus InnovateX Fund has so far already invested more than a third of its corpus. Seven startups of the Fund I are currently included in the portfolio, including such firms as Pointo (a clean-tech battery company), Datazip (a composable lakehouse platform), GreenStitch (a fashion-focused ESG accounting SaaS), CtrlB, Consuma AI, RSPL, and Neverinstall. The overall objective of the fund is to create a diversified portfolio comprising up to 15 companies.
The remaining capital should be deployed within the upcoming 12-18 months since the final close has now been achieved. The fund continues to be selective, searching for high-impact businesses, exhibiting sound governance and the capability to create long-term value. As the maiden fund enters its full deployment period, the team will still be looking to scale existing portfolio companies, but they will also add a couple of strategic bets to the portfolio.
Conclusion
The close of the Equitate InnovateX Fund at ₹166 crore is an indication of how much people have faith in the early-stage B2B tech startups in India. With a rigorous investment philosophy and a network of veteran operators, EIF has developed a strong framework to develop an idea into a startup during the most difficult period between early product development and scalable growth.
With Fund I already deployed and building stronger ties with long-term partners in the capital market, the fund is, in fact, paving the way to its future ventures in the venture capital field. This is not only a successful closure, but it also brings a wider range of vibrancy to the Indian startup landscape.
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