Veda VC, an early-stage venture capital fund, announced the first close of its Rs 250 crore corpus led by top family offices and startup CXOs. Its focus is on early-stage investments . The fund, a SEBI-registered Category 1 AIF, plans to invest between $250,000 and $1.25 million in technology and tech-enabled ventures in India across consumer internet, SaaS, fintech and deep tech sectors.

Started in 2019, Veda was founded by former startup founders and operators Vasant Rao and Ashis Nayak (Autoninja), Avijeet Alagathi (BYG), and Venus Dhuria (Appyhigh). Veda also has a dedicated team for investments in frontier technologies such as AI/ML, Computer Vision, and space tech.

Veda is an Operator VC. Operator VC is a VC fund which is founded by operators/ex-entrepreneurs and also works actively with portfolios on various operational aspects like GTM strategy, marketing, hiring, etc. "In 2019, we began as a community of founders aiming to assist other founders at the angel stage. Veda has become one of the most active seed investors, investing approximately $10 million annually across various startups," said Vasant Rao, Founder and Managing Partner, Veda VC, in a statement.

The fund aims to partner early in a startup's journey. Besides infusing capital, the team also imparts domain knowledge, ecosystem network, execution skills and craft to help portfolio companies reach PMF, scale faster, and raise follow-on capital. “As operators, we understand how tough the founder's journey is and having seen the ups and downs of building and scaling up a startup, we decided to start Veda to enable seed-stage founders with the knowledge and network to make better decisions,” added Avijeet Founder and Managing Partner, Veda VC.

Veda has so far invested in 46 startups, more than half of whom have raised subsequent capital from marquee investors like Sequoia, Accel, Kalaari Capital, Mayfair, 3one4 Capital, and more. The fund’s portfolio includes Dukaan, Elo Elo, One Impression, Even Health, Rigi, and Agnikul among others