Aavishkaar Group partners with Jamwant Ventures to launch Rs 500 Cr fund focused on defence and deeptech
As part of the partnership, Aavishkaar Group has launched OneAavishkaar, a one-stop solution to help drive scale for emerging venture funds.
Fund management platform Aavishkaar Group has launched OneAavishkaar, a one-stop solution to help drive scale for emerging venture funds. Under OneAavishkaar, the firm has partnered with Jamwant Ventures to launch a Rs 500-crore defence and deeptech focused fund.
Jamwant Ventures was founded in 2023 by former Indian Navy officers, Navneet Kaushik and Kartik Gopal along with Jyotsana Dalal. The firm had launched its maiden fund with a target corpus of Rs 40 crore and has invested in companies such as solid rocket propulsion startup Spacefields, aerospace startup Axial Aero, and marine technologies startup AstraYAN.
“Jamwant is one of India’s only veteran-run defence-tech fund. Not only is the founding team themselves from the armed forces, but they have also been on the operational side of things. This is one of the sectors where entrepreneurs will not come seeking money from you if you don’t understand their language,” said Tarun Mehta, Partner, Funds and Strategy at Aavishkaar Capital.
The new fund, Jamwant Ventures Fund 2, is looking to back 20-25 defence and deeptech startups between the early and growth stages, with an average cheque size of $1 million to $5 million. Fifteen to twenty per cent of the fund will be earmarked for follow-on investments in portfolio companies.
OneAavishkaar aims to provide seamless enablement across fundraising, investments, operations, ESG, and compliance. It is looking to strike up similar partnerships with other emerging venture funds.
According to Kushik, partnering with OneAavishkaar helps the team at Jamvant Ventures focus on what they know best—mentorship and helping portfolio companies grow.
“If I had to go do everything on my own, I will take another five years to probably reach the stage of raising a (Rs) 500-crore fund, and you should also have the bandwidth to manage and learn everything, from compliances to structuring," Kushik told YourStory.
"So that is where we thought that this partnership works. Similarly, if Avishkar has to come into defence, they will also probably need another three to five years to learn about that sector. So instead of going against and going individually, we decided to go together," he added.
Under this partnership, Aavishkaar will be the co-sponsor of the fund and invest in the fund as part of the fund’s general partner commitments. According to Mehta, this will be the template for OneAavishkaar’s partnerships going forward.
Edited by Swetha Kannan