SIDBI Venture Capital Ltd (SVCL), a wholly owned subsidiary of SIDBI, has announced a major milestone for its new Antariksh Venture Capital Fund (AVCF), achieving a first close of ₹1,005 crore.
This dedicated spacetech fund is significantly anchored by ₹1,000 crore from IN-SPACe, positioning it as India’s largest fund focused on the sector and among the biggest globally.
Key Fund Details
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Target Corpus: ₹1,600 crore
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Initial Close: ₹1,005 crore (anchored by ₹1,000 crore from IN-SPACe)
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Investment Focus: Early and growth-stage Indian spacetech startups.
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Target Sectors: Launch systems, satellites and payloads, in-space services, ground infrastructure, earth observation, communications, and downstream applications.
Strategic Importance
AVCF is SVCL’s 12th venture capital fund and is designed to align with India’s ambitious goal of creating a US$44 billion space economy by 2033.
Arup Kumar, Managing Director and CEO of SVCL, emphasized the fund’s role: “The Antariksh Venture Capital Fund… will play an instrumental role in advancing national space capability and competitiveness.”
The fund is also stated to advance priorities outlined in India’s Space Vision 2047 and complements SIDBI’s mission to strengthen the MSME and startup ecosystem through various credit and investment initiatives.
SVCL, which has previously backed major category-defining companies like BillDesk and Data Patterns since its first fund in 1999, will now look for additional commitments from domestic and global institutional and sovereign investors under a green-shoe option.
By: Sandhya Bharti
