Investor Profile: BYT Capital — Thesis, Cheque Size & How to Apply

Bengaluru-based BYT Capital is one of the newest deeptech-focused venture firms in India. Founded in 2025 by early-stage investor Amit Chand and Dinesh Kumar (co-founder of FAAD Capital), the firm announced its maiden Rs 180 crore Category II AIF in December 2025, with more than half the corpus already subscribed and a final close expected by Q3 2026.

The thesis: IP-led, lab-to-market deeptech

BYT backs founders building at the frontier of scientific and engineering innovation — companies translating lab-stage discoveries into scalable products with global market pull. Founder Amit Chand calls deeptech "the new infrastructure layer", arguing that LPs globally are moving towards sector-thesis funds because "to generate alpha, you need to dig deep into a sector and build thesis and expertise around it." The firm applies a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 3 to 7 filter: the core science must be validated (TRL 3) through to a system prototype demonstrated in an operational environment (TRL 7).

Sectors and stages

The fund targets pre-seed to Series A across space technology and aerospace, defence technology, clean and alternative energy, AI for science and drug discovery, synthetic biology and life sciences, quantum technology, photonics, robotics and frontier AI. It plans to back 18–20 startups over the fund's life, and in its first year of operations has already made commitments across space technology, life sciences, robotics and clean energy — each representing high-value IP emerging from Indian engineering and research ecosystems. Chand notes strong deal flow from Tier-2 and Tier-3 incubation centres across IITs and IISc.

Fund size and cheque size

The maiden fund is Rs 180 crore, including an Rs 80 crore green-shoe option (per YourStory). Initial cheques range from Rs 3 crore to Rs 6 crore, with about 55% of the corpus reserved for follow-on rounds and follow-on cheques of up to Rs 15 crore for winners. The LP base consists of India-aligned ultra-HNIs, HNIs and family offices seeking long-horizon exposure to deeptech. First cheques were expected to be deployed by the end of December 2025.

Partners

Amit Chand brings over two decades of experience across corporate strategy, entrepreneurship and early-stage investing. Dinesh Kumar adds a decade of backing emerging ventures as co-founder of FAAD Capital. The firm says it will partner early with scientific founders, offering patient capital, technical diligence and hands-on incubation.

How to apply for funding

BYT Capital has no public application portal. The listed route for founders is a direct approach to founder and managing partner Amit Chand via LinkedIn (per the 2026 deeptech VC directory on backrr.com), ideally with a crisp note on your IP, TRL stage and lab-to-market path.