Investor Profile: Made in Fire Fund — Thesis, Cheque Size & How to Apply

For founders hunting for how to get funding from the Made in Fire Fund, the pitch is refreshingly different: this is a Rs 1 crore founder fund that does not take equity at all. Launched on 28 October 2026 by Rajnish Kumar, co-founder and Group Co-CEO of travel platform ixigo, the fund backs graduating students of the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur with non-dilutive prototype money, mentorship and investor introductions. It is named after Kumar's book, Made in Fire, and it starts with the institute's Class of 2026.

Investment thesis

The fund's thesis is that the earliest believer matters more than the earliest cheque size. Kumar, who graduated from IIT Kanpur in 2001, has said the fund wants to back builders early, not because they have the perfect pitch deck, but because they have conviction, understand a real problem deeply and can build. Selection weighs conviction, customer understanding, originality, execution, long-term thinking and coachability over traction or polish. That founder-first stance is the whole point: most student founders cannot raise institutional seed money before they have something to show, and angel investors usually want traction first. A small non-dilutive grant breaks that deadlock.

Sectors and stages

The fund invests at the idea and prototype stage, before a company has revenue or a priced round. Each graduating batch contributes 10 technology-led startups, and each selected startup receives Rs 10 lakh in non-dilutive prototype funding, meaning founders give up no equity in return. The mandate is deliberately broad within technology: artificial intelligence, software as a service, consumer internet, deep tech, climate, mobility, healthtech and enterprise software, plus other emerging technology areas. The only hard filters are that the venture must be technology-led, must solve a meaningful problem, and must come from a graduating IIT Kanpur student or founding team.

Notable portfolio / track record

Because the fund launched with the Class of 2026, there is no portfolio to report yet, and this profile claims none. Its backing network draws on ixigo's leadership team and the so-called ixigo Mafia, entrepreneurs and companies founded by former ixigo team members. Selected founders also receive product reviews, go-to-market guidance, hiring support and introductions to investors where appropriate. After six to 12 months, teams present their progress at a Demo Day, which is the fund's bridge from prototype grant to a first institutional conversation.

How to apply for funding

Applications for the Class of 2026 are open now through the fund's own apply page at madeinfire.co/fund/apply. Graduating IIT Kanpur students can apply individually or as founding teams, and the form asks for plain answers rather than polish: who you are, your programme and roll number, what you are building in one line, the problem and who it affects, why your approach is different, and what you have already built, with a deck, demo or code link optional. Teams are selected jointly with IIT Kanpur. Founders outside IIT Kanpur cannot apply to this fund, since eligibility is tied to graduating from the institute, but the model is worth studying for any campus fund.