Piper Serica raises Rs 300 Cr as first close of Bharat Tech Fund

Piper Serica, a Mumbai-based investment house that invests in public and private markets, has raised Rs 300 crore as the first close for its Rs 800 crore Bharat Tech Fund.

A statement said nearly 50% of the commitments for the first close came from the existing investors of Fund I who were institutional investors, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals.

Bharat Tech Fund, a Category 2 AIF, will focus on Indian startups across the segment of semiconductors, defence, spacetech, fintech, robotics, biosciences, and advanced electronics.

The fund will invest around Rs 25-50 crore in each startup and aims to support startups developing globally competitive technologies out of India.

On the first close, Ajay Modi, Director, Piper Serica, said, "The response to the Bharat Tech Fund shows that investors are looking at deeptech as a long-term opportunity, backed by the strong performance we've delivered through Fund I. We believe India's next generation of global companies will come from founders who are solving complex problems using R&D and science.”

Piper Serica said it is also seeing a very high-quality deal pipeline, with deeptech companies generating meaningful revenue and building large orderbooks. The Fund I backed startups such as Alt Mobility, Pantherun, Rupeeflo, OTPless, Yaanendriya, Vobiz, and Six Sense Mobility.

The firm has been investing in the deeptech segment since 2022 and has an experienced investment team as well as a body of experts.

“Our objective is to support entrepreneurs who are building strong intellectual property and globally competitive businesses from India. We believe India has the talent, policy support and market opportunity to become a global deeptech leader," Modi said.

Piper Serica said it had originally expected to achieve the final close of the Bharat Tech Fund by December this year. However, now it expects to close ahead of schedule going by the interest shown by investors.