IIT Madras to launch Rs 200 Cr VC fund

Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) has launched a Rs 200-crore venture capital fund to support startups from the institution. The 'IITM Alumni Fund' was introduced during its flagship and alumni event Sangam 2025 held in Bengaluru recently.

The fund will focus on Series-A and pre-Series A investments and will operate as a separate legal entity from the institute. A large majority of investments will be in IITM-incubated startups.

“In our first fund, we want to raise Rs 200 crore through 'IITM Alumni Fund’. All of you (the entire alumni community) can invest in this fund to help IITM startups and yourselves. Here is an opportunity to work with great startups, great technologies and invest in them so that we both grow. This fund will also help accelerate our vision of ‘Start-up Shatam,’ in which the Institute seeks to incubate 100 deep-tech startups every year,” said Professor V Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras (featured in the image).

With emerging startups from the institute growing exponentially, the fund aims to support future high-value ventures through strategic investments.

The fund will draw investors from IIT Madras alumni and high-net-worth individuals, operating with standard VC processes and governance structures.

The IIT Madras Incubation Cell has already backed 500 startups with a combined valuation exceeding Rs 50,000 crore ($6 billion), generating over 11,000 jobs. Ather Energy recently became the first IIT Madras-incubated startup to go public and the second IIT Madras incubated unicorn after Uniphore, a global conversational AI and automation company.

“We are at the cusp of an entrepreneurship revolution at IITM and need to carefully curate and scale the exciting startups that are coming out so that they maximise their impact. A focused Series A-level VC fund, where the investors are our own alumni and well-wishers, who have already contributed significantly to the growth of our ecosystem, is exactly what is going to get us there. We are thrilled to launch this fund,” said Prof Ashwin Mahalingam, Dean (Alumni and Corporate Relations), IIT Madras.

The IITM Alumni Fund will benefit from the institute's support in fundraising through its alumni network and direct access to the institution's startup ecosystem.