Investor Profile: Antariksh Venture Capital Fund — Thesis, Cheque Size & How to Apply

Who the Antariksh Venture Capital Fund is

Antariksh Venture Capital Fund funding is the single largest pool of dedicated capital Indian spacetech founders have ever been able to tap. In November 2025, SIDBI Venture Capital Ltd (SVCL) — the wholly owned venture arm of SIDBI — announced the first close of the Antariksh Venture Capital Fund at ₹1,005 crore, anchored almost entirely by a ₹1,000 crore commitment from IN-SPACe, the government's nodal body for private-sector participation in space. Registered as a Category II Alternative Investment Fund with a 10-year life, it is India's largest spacetech-focused fund and among the largest globally. For spacetech founders, this is the deepest domestic chequebook the sector has ever seen.

Thesis

The fund's thesis is national as much as commercial: deepen private-sector participation across the space value chain and build an end-to-end private space industry that serves national needs and competes globally. It aligns with India's Space Vision 2047 and the goal of a US$44 billion space economy by 2033. The ₹1,000 crore IN-SPACe anchor is the Budget 2024 spacetech allocation taking shape as a deployable fund.

Sectors & stages

The fund invests across early and growth stages in Indian spacetech enterprises spanning launch systems, satellites and payloads, in-space services, ground segment operations, earth observation platforms and communications. It also covers downstream applications converting space-based data into commercial or public services.

Fund size & cheque size

The Antariksh Venture Capital Fund closed first at ₹1,005 crore and targets ₹1,600 crore, with the balance to come from domestic and overseas institutional backers, including sovereign investors, under a green-shoe option. This is SVCL's 12th venture capital fund. A per-startup cheque size has not been publicly disclosed in the fund's launch announcements.

Notable portfolio

The fund is newly closed and has not announced portfolio investments yet. Its manager's lineage is long: SVCL, incorporated in 1999, has backed category-defining companies including unicorns like BillDesk and Data Patterns.

Partners / team

SIDBI Venture Capital Ltd — a 100% SIDBI subsidiary — manages the fund under MD & CEO Arup Kumar. The anchor, IN-SPACe, is the central government's space promotion body created in 2020.

Programs & perks

Beyond the corpus, the fund plugs founders into the national space apparatus: IN-SPACe as anchor investor, alignment with Space Vision 2047, and SIDBI's Fund of Funds for Startups machinery, which has earmarked ₹211 crore toward deeptech and spacetech venture funds.

How to apply for funding from Antariksh Venture Capital Fund

SVCL publishes its application route on its official website: founders should review the active funds being managed, then submit their business plan in the format given on the site. In practice, email an executive summary — team profile, financials, industry information — to the fund's official email ids for SVCL's preliminary assessment.