VC firm Merak Ventures begins its journey with a $100M fund

Merak Ventures, a sector-agnostic, early-stage venture capital (VC) firm, announced its launch on Monday with a target corpus of $100 million. The fund aims to invest in 18-20 startups over the next three-four years. 

Co-founded by fund managers Manu Rikhye and Sheetal Bahl, the VC firm will invest in seed-stage B2B (business-to-business) and emerging technologies companies. While the fund will remain sector-agnostic, some investment themes it will proactively chase include ClimateTech (encompassing AgriTech, mobility, carbon, climate finance, and digital solutions), InsurTech, and Enterprise SaaS.

Manu Rikhye, Partner, 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.” 

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The Delhi-NCR-based VC firm will also provide active support in strategy, business development, and fundraising. 

Sheetal Bahl, Partner, Merak Ventures, added, “Merak is the culmination of a decade of thinking, learning, and investing in the Indian startup ecosystem. It represents our strong belief that financial gains and impact, whether on industry, people, or the planet, are not mutually exclusive. And it is built on the foundation of our passions – B2B and emerging technologies, and our values: boldness, empathy, fun.”

Both founders at Merak are successful fund managers who have been investing in the Indian ecosystem for a decade now. They have focussed on B2B and deep/ emerging tech. growx Ventures Fund I, which they continue to manage, has had a portfolio of 16 investments including category creators and companies such as Cynlr, Pixxel, and Progcap.