Eximius Ventures: The Pre-Seed Fund That Writes India's Cheque Zero

Eximius Ventures calls it writing "Cheque Zero" — the first institutional cheque into a startup, sometimes at the idea stage, occasionally even before incorporation. Founded in 2020 in Gurgaon, this dedicated pre-seed VC exists for the moment most investors walk away from: when belief matters more than metrics.

The firm's thesis is explicitly thesis-driven rather than cohort-driven. It rejects the spray-and-pray model, instead making a small number of high-conviction bets of $500K to $1M in a founder's first institutional round, backing teams that are pre-product or at early traction. Eximius is happy to lead or co-lead, and it positions itself as the first call a founder makes — then actively helps assemble the rest of the round through its venture-partner network, fellow founders, and friendly co-investors.

Fund structure tells the growth story. The inaugural $10 million Fund I, launched in 2021 and led by Pearl Agarwal and Preeti Sampat, backed 24 companies; the firm reports that about 60% of them have since secured multiple up-rounds from global investors, delivering an IRR above 40%. In January 2025, Eximius announced Fund II, targeting a $30 million corpus to back 25–30 companies with initial $500K cheques, reserving half the corpus for follow-on investments in its breakout portfolio companies. The firm has since opened a Bengaluru office to sit closer to its AI and fintech founders.

Sectors are differentiated around large, trillion-scale markets: FinAI (fintech with an AI-first lens), Enterprise AI, and Consumer AI — specifically fintech, AI/SaaS, frontier tech, and consumer tech. Early bets leaned into gaming, fintech, and healthtech, and the firm has historically given precedence to female founders.

The portfolio carries some of India's most recognisable early-stage success stories: Jar, the micro-savings app democratising digital gold (later backed by Tiger Global, Arkam Ventures, and Rocketship.vc); Eka Care, the connected health-records ecosystem (backed by Mirae Asset, 3one4 Capital, Hummingbird Ventures, and Verlinvest); Skydo, the cross-border payments platform (backed by Elevation Capital and Better Capital); STAN, the gamified gaming community platform (backed by General Catalyst and Better Capital); Oyela, the creator-commerce network (backed by Prime Venture Partners and Good Capital); 30 Sundays, the couples-travel startup (backed by InfoEdge); plus CuePilot AI, Finarkein Analytics, Vegapay, and Fego.

Beyond capital, Eximius runs the Eximius Edge Platform — sector-specific strategy, network, hiring, and GTM support — and publishes India's First Pre-Seed Fundraising Guide and Pre-Seed Investment Playbook as founder resources. Its ecosystem programming includes The Gaming Lounge 2021, a gaming-industry event with a PitchFest offering up to $250,000 in funding to the winning startup, and regular pre-seed founder events.

The firm is led by Founder and Managing Partner Pearl Agarwal, a SEBI-registered fund manager whose personal angel portfolio includes EWar, BluSmart Mobility, inFeedo, and Trell, alongside Preeti Sampat, who co-led the Fund II raise from a team of eight sector-focused members.