Investor Profile: Ankur Capital — The Deep Science Fund Betting on India’s Next Billion

In a market that rewards consumer scale, Ankur Capital has spent over a decade doing something harder: writing early cheques for deep science and digital technology breakthroughs — from methane-fed protein to fusion energy.

Investment thesis

Ankur Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm backing digital and deep science technology companies building "breakthroughs for a better world". Founded in 2014 by Ritu Verma and Rema Subramanian, it was built on a conviction that India's most consequential companies would be founded on disruptive technology — and on the needs of the Next Billion Users, the wave of new-to-internet consumers in emerging markets. An early pioneer in Indian agritech, it incubated ThinkAg, the country's first agritech think tank.

Sectors & stages

The firm's centre of gravity spans agritech, healthtech, fintech, edtech, local-language technologies and deeptech, with its third fund adding digital-transformation and decarbonisation themes. It enters early — at seed and pre-Series A — and stays through later rounds as technical milestones and commercial inflection points are reached.

Fund size & cheque size

Ankur Capital Fund II reached an intermediate close of INR 330 crore in March 2021, with commitments from the MacArthur Foundation, BIRAC and NABARD, following a INR 240 crore first close backed by CDC Group, the Dutch Good Growth Fund and SIDBI. Ankur Capital Fund III, launched in 2024, targets INR 1,200 crore (about $150 million), with commitments from British International Investment, MacArthur Foundation, the US International Development Finance Corporation and the Self-Reliant India Fund. Total assets under management exceed $200 million. Initial cheques range from $500K to $2M (with Fund III entry tickets of $1-2M and support up to $10M), with significant capital reserved for follow-ons.

Notable portfolio companies

Across three funds and more than forty companies, standouts include Captain Fresh, String Bio, Offgrid Energy Labs, Niramai, CropIn, BigHaat, Agrizy, Vegrow, Vimano, Pranos, Turiyam, CraftifAI, Josh Talks and IBISA.

Partners & team

Led by cofounders Ritu Verma (managing partner) and Rema Subramanian, the team describes itself as scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs who have built companies themselves, working from Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi.

Programs & ecosystem building

Ankur also builds the ecosystem it invests in: ThinkAg works with innovators and corporates on India's food and agriculture landscape, the Deep Science Forum convenes the deep-science community, TechSprouts engages the ecosystem, and Ankur Dialogues plus research such as the Manufacturing Report 2026 give the firm early access to ideas before they become pitch decks.

Credits & perks

No credits or perks programme is publicly advertised — treat specifics as not publicly disclosed. Support comes as hands-on help: product strategy, key hires, customer and research connections.

How to approach them

Warm introductions through founders, researchers or operators carry the most weight — but cold outreach is read: write to [email protected] with the problem, your technology or product, team backgrounds, traction or technical milestones, and fundraising plans. A deck helps. Expect to be judged on three questions: the market (is the pain big enough?), the founders (domain expertise, hustle, resilience — and honesty about what you don't know), and the path (a credible technical and commercial roadmap to category leadership).