Industrial47 marks first close of debut fund to back frontier tech

Industrial47, a pre-seed venture capital firm founder by Rahul Seth, a former investor at Antler and a Major with The Indian Army Reserves, has marked the first close of its debut vehicle at Rs 85 crore.

The Bengaluru-based fund is targeting a corpus of Rs 150 crore, with a Rs 50 crore greenshoe option, a statement said.

Limited Partners (LPs), or investors, in the fund include family offices, industrial groups, founders and operators, including Bhukhanvala Holdings, Chemet India, Vivek Mathur, former MD of Elevation Capital, Boris Wertz of Version One Ventures, and founders of unicorns including Swiggy and Urban Company.

Industrial47 plans to invest Rs 2-10 crore across 15-20 companies at the earliest stages of company building. The fund will focus on space systems, defence, energy, maritime intelligence, advanced manufacturing and other frontier technologies, with an emphasis on national security and strategic infrastructure.

For Seth, the fund is an extension of an investment philosophy that predates frontier technology becoming an established venture category in India. Rather than evaluating startups only on their commercial potential, Industrial47 is looking at whether the technologies being built could become capabilities India will eventually need to develop domestically.

"Every country that matters in the global equation today has had to build its own industry, its own energy, its own defence, its own capacity to stand on its feet. Progress takes time, effort and the sheer concentrated power of will. For decades, we outsourced effort to other countries and imported the results. I hope that we now build the originals," said Seth.

The statement said that the fund's early bets reflect that thesis. Industrial47 was the earliest backer of Pranos Fusion, becoming the first institutional investor in India's private nuclear ecosystem. The company has since developed PRAGYA, described by the fund as India's first privately built low-aspect-ratio tokamak.

Its portfolio also includes Armory, which is developing indigenous counter-drone systems and has secured Rs 100 crore in Ministry of Defence contracts. Other investments include a stealth jet engine company developing high-performance engines for very high-altitude operations and RekiSe Marine, which is building autonomous submarines for India's maritime security.

Seth's earlier personal investments include Pixxel, Digantara, PierSight, Alt Carbon, Flam and Anthriq.