100Unicorns: India's YC-Style Accelerator VC Writing First Cheques

Formerly 9Unicorns, 100Unicorns is India's first accelerator VC — investing from the idea stage with mentorship, demo days and corporate access built in, and a Fund II targeting $200 million across 200 startups.

100Unicorns, formerly known as 9Unicorns, bills itself as India's first accelerator venture capital firm — and it behaves more like Y Combinator than a traditional fund. Founded by Dr. Apoorva Ranjan Sharma (Managing Director of the Venture Catalysts Group), Anil Jain, Anuj Golecha and Gaurav Jain, the fund rebranded in 2024 with an explicit mission: to build 100 unicorns out of India. It operates as part of the Venture Catalysts ecosystem, one of the country's largest early-stage investment networks.

The investment thesis is simple and founder-friendly: write the first cheque, then stay in the room for the next three rounds. 100Unicorns Fund II launched in 2024 with a target corpus of $200 million (including a $100 million greenshoe option), aiming to back 200 startups over about five and a half years. First investments run $250,000–$300,000 at the idea-to-angel stage, with follow-on cheques of up to $3 million alongside co-investors. Around 60% of the corpus is reserved for first cheques, and roughly 15% is earmarked for startups in the US, Middle East, Africa and Asia. The official site currently lists Fund I at $100 million and Fund II at $150 million, with 157 investments made, 14,000+ startups reviewed, 3 unicorns and 30+ portfolio companies valued at $50 million or more.

Sectors, stages and who thrives here

100Unicorns is resolutely early-stage and sector-agnostic with a tech tilt: fintech, deeptech, enterprise SaaS, web3, media, insurtech, healthtech, edtech, D2C, EV, defence, climate tech, robotics, SaaS and travel. The fund has a deliberate bias toward underserved founders — per its own numbers, 12% of the portfolio is deeptech, 22% women-led and 20% from smaller towns, with strong Tier-II/III representation.

The portfolio is one of India's most recognizable early-stage rosters: Shiprocket, Zetwerk, Vedantu, Zypp Electric, VideoVerse, Renee Cosmetics, Wiom, IGP/Join Ventures, Progcap, BrightChamps, Power Gummies, Ethereal Machines, Assiduus Global, Klub, OTO Capital, TruNativ, DrinkPrime, LeverageEdu, Snapmint, Ukhi and Baaz Bikes, among others.

Acceleration programs that go beyond capital

What sets 100Unicorns apart is the acceleration layer. Its flagship is DDay, billed as the world's largest global demo day, which has drawn 4,000+ investors and helped 70+ startups raise follow-on rounds at Series B and beyond. ProStar is positioned as India's largest growth-stage event connecting startups with marquee fund houses. The fund also runs C-Day (Corporate Day), a quarterly sector-focused event linking startups with Fortune 500 companies and large Indian conglomerates for pilots and partnerships, plus a Theme Based Accelerator program in partnership with its group company Incubate Hub. Beyond events, founders get mentorship from veteran founders and CXOs, sector-anchor partners who open business doors, corporate-governance coaching and structured fundraising support.

Why it matters for founders

If you're raising at the idea or pre-seed stage in India, 100Unicorns is one of the few funds that pairs a real first cheque ($250K–$300K) with an institutional launchpad — DDay, corporate pilots, CXO mentors and a co-investor network that has repeatedly taken startups from demo day to Series B. Founders with an outlier idea and global ambition, especially outside the metros, should treat this as a front-door option.