Artha Venture Fund I (AVF I), India’s pioneering early-stage microVC fund sponsored by the Artha India Ventures family office, is approaching full deployment, having invested over ₹175 crore across 32 seed-stage startups. Since its inception, AVF I has distinguished itself by delivering an impressive internal rate of return (IRR) of 61%, significantly outperforming the industry average IRR of 35% for comparable microVC funds in India, placing it among the top 5 globally.
In FY25 alone, AVF I’s portfolio companies collectively generated over ₹2,100 crore in revenues, with two standout ventures now valued above $400 million. The fund’s Distributed to Paid-In Capital (DPI) is approaching 20%, buoyed by a recently signed exit under diligence and last year’s successful exit from Everest Fleet.
“What started as a small experiment to manage our family capital through a fund has grown into a powerhouse portfolio that employs over 20,000+ people directly and 100,000+ people indirectly. In many ways we have just reached the middle of our fund journey with 4 years left to continue scaling these incredible ventures that go from the cosmos to the radio-taxi picking you up below your house,” said Anirudh A. Damani, Managing Partner, Artha Venture Fund. “our numbers excite me but here’s still a lot of energy and value to be unlocked. We are laser-focused on building India’s first VC fund to return 10x DPI,” he added.