pi Ventures announces final close of second fund at $85-M

Early-stage venture firm pi Ventures, which invests in artificial intelligence and deeptech startups, has announced the final close of its second fund with a total commitment of INR 702 crore (about USD 85 million). The fund had initially targetted INR 565 crore. The fund is backed by BII, Nippon India Digital Innovation AIF, Accel, Colruyt, Premji Invest, besides entrepreneurs and family offices. Sidbi has also returned as a key investor in pi Ventures' second fund with a commitment of INR 100 crore from its Fund-of-Funds for Startups (FFS), about 2. 5 times of what FFS had invested in the first fund. pi Ventures will continue to focus on the early stages of seed, pre-Series A and Series A investments via its latest fund. The fund will focus on AI, blockchain, space-tech, biotech and material sciences. pi Ventures had announced the first close of the second round in January 2022 with INR 303. 5 crore (about USD 40 million) raised from Accel, entrepreneurs, high-net-worth individuals and family offices.