Bengaluru-based Fundamental VC runs one of the most founder-friendly structures in Indian venture capital — and its Fundamental VC funding model starts with a radical idea: zero carry. The firm launched its maiden fund in June 2022 with a target corpus of $130 million (about Rs 1,014 crore), investing in pre-seed and seed rounds of early-stage startups. It received SEBI approval in March 2022 and had already begun deploying capital by launch.
What Fundamental VC funding looks like
Fundamental VC is deliberately sector-agnostic. It evaluates ventures across consumer internet, healthcare, insurance, financial services, SaaS, gaming and artificial intelligence. The fund invests up to $1.5 million per startup and aims to back 30 startups over two years — a concentrated, high-conviction strategy rather than spray-and-pray, in the words of cofounder Saswat Sundar. It also promises speed: a term sheet within a week and capital deployed within a month of closing.
The zero-carry model
Unlike the industry-standard 2-20 model — where general partners take a 2 per cent management fee plus 20 per cent of returns as carry — Fundamental VC operates on a zero-carry model. It raises money in phases as cohorts from investors and, rather than waiting out the full fund tenure, makes periodic payouts to investors. For founders, the signal is alignment: the fund's economics sit entirely on management discipline, not on skimming upside.
The people behind it
Fundamental VC was founded by former startup operators Saswat Sundar and Abhishek Rathi, who previously worked together at early-stage fundraising platform LetsVenture. Sundar has worked with startups including OYO and Stashfin, served as a senior executive at revenue-based financing platform Velocity, and led LetsVenture's startup sourcing and evaluation division. Rathi is a former banker (Citi, HSBC, Union Bank of India) who ran LetsVenture's deals and partnerships division. Both have invested in their individual capacity in more than 20 startups each, including Agnikul, Kenko, TradeX, BluSmart, StockGro, Dukaan, Elo Elo and Redcliffe Lifesciences.
The maiden fund is backed by an equal mix of domestic and international limited partners from Singapore, the Middle East and the US — a mix of unicorn founders, HNIs, family offices and senior technology executives who have been long associated with the early-stage ecosystem. Portfolio companies of the fund include SuperFam (a $400,000 pre-seed round led in September 2025) and Jodaro ($750,000 seed round led in December 2023).
How to apply for funding
Fundamental VC does not publish a public pitch form or contact email on a company website (no official website was found during research). The firm's team is reachable through warm introductions via its LP and founder network. Given its promise of a term sheet within a week, founders should arrive with a tight deck covering team, traction and fund use — and expect fast, honest feedback.
Why it matters for founders
Fundamental VC's zero-carry model means the fund is built to pay capital back early and often, not hoard it for fees — an unusually founder-aligned structure for pre-seed and seed cheques of up to $1.5 million. Two operator-founders who built at LetsVenture, OYO, Velocity and top banks mean your pitch is read by people who have sat on your side of the table.