Celesta Capital: the $1.1B deep-tech fund doubling down on India - from ideaForge to Agnikul

Semiconductors. Space launch. Defence imaging. AI cancer diagnostics. Few funds on earth cover as much deep-tech frontier as Celesta Capital - and with a $1.1 billion asset base, a Bangalore office and a planned Rs 2,000 crore India-focused fund, the Silicon Valley firm is doubling down on Indian founders building generational companies.

Investment thesis

Celesta's mission is blunt: "We help turn deep tech ideas into generational companies." It targets "leading-edge infrastructure technologies throughout the stack" across three pillars: (1) platforms enabling mass adoption of emerging tech - semiconductors, intelligent hardware, AI applications, cloud infrastructure; (2) bioconvergence - high tech meets biotech; and (3) tech transformation of large, low-tech industries. Its boilerplate cites "more than 100 early-stage technology investments".

Funds, stages and cheque sizes

Celesta Capital states $1.1 billion in assets under management and 100+ investments to date on its own site and LinkedIn - independently repeated by Inc42 and Mint. The firm was founded in 2013 (formerly WRVI Capital, renamed in May 2021). It does not publicly state global cheque sizes. For India, the picture is developing fast: the firm has registered a SEBI Category-II AIF for a planned Rs 2,000 crore (~$215 million) India-focused deep-tech fund - reported by Inc42 in March 2026 as fundraising from LPs, with founding managing partner Sriram Viswanathan telling Mint in June 2026 that it is "in the process of being closed and announced". It is not yet closed, so treat it as raising. (Inc42, citing sources) reported average India tickets of $3-7 million, primarily Series A and B.

Notable portfolio

India names are the showpiece: ideaForge (the drone maker whose July 2023 IPO was the first 100x-subscribed issue since 2021), Agnikul Cosmos (the Chennai space-launch company whose Rs 200 crore Series B it backed), Tonbo Imaging (defence imaging), Pixis (AI marketing), Healofy (led a Rs 48 crore round), Questt (led a $6.75 million Series A with Premji Invest), 1Cell AI (AI cancer diagnostics). Globally, the chip and AI-infra roster is elite: SambaNova Systems, Innovium, Nuvia, Habana Labs, Annapurna Labs and Auradine - whose founder calls Celesta its initial lead investor.

People

Founding Managing Partners: Sriram Viswanathan, Nic Brathwaite and Michael Marks. Managing Partners include Anand Chandrasekaran (ex-General Catalyst, joined December 2024 to work the Silicon Valley-India corridor) and Arun Kumar (former KPMG India CEO); Sudhir Rao is Managing Director for India, Terry Gilton a Partner, Viswanathan sits on the board of the India Semiconductor Mission, and the firm is a founding stakeholder of the India Deep Tech Alliance - a consortium committed to ~$3 billion for Indian core-tech companies.

Credits and perks

No accelerator or startup credits programme is publicly stated. Celesta does run TechSurge, its deep-tech podcast and conference series - a visibility platform as much as a programme, and a genuine route into the firm's orbit.

How to engage

Celesta's contact page has a web form with an identity selector explicitly including "Founder", plus a newsletter signup. Offices: Silicon Valley (+1 (650) 446 9383; 1850 Gateway Drive, Suite 450, San Mateo) and Bengaluru (+91 80437 11542; No. 9/1, Madras Bank Road), plus Montreal.