Rahul Seth’s Industrial47 marks first close of debut fund at Rs 85 crore to invest in frontier tech startups

Industrial47, the pre-seed venture fund founded by frontier technology investor Rahul Seth, has announced the first close of its debut fund at Rs 85 crore, progressing towards a target corpus of Rs 150 crore, with a Rs 50 crore greenshoe option. The debut fund's first close brings together family offices, industrial groups, founders and operators, including Bhukhanvala Holdings, Chemet India, Vivek Mathur (former MD, Elevation Capital), Boris Wertz (Version One Ventures), and founders of a few renowned unicorns including Swiggy, Urban Company amongst others. The fund will invest Rs 2 to 10 crore across 15–20 startups building across space systems, defence, energy, maritime intelligence, advanced manufacturing and other frontier technologies, with a pronounced focus on national security and strategic infrastructure. "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 Rahul Seth, Founder and General Partner, Industrial47. "The founders we back are closing the gap between what India has and what it needs to build. I have watched this play out, one design, one prototype, one launch at a time. Every rupee in this fund is a bet on building India's technological sovereignty and industrial self-sufficiency. We will continue to discover, help and back builders early, rather than wait for market conviction," he added. Rahil has previously backed startups. including Pixxel, Digantara, PierSight, Alt Carbon, Flam and Anthriq. Nandan Reddy, Co-founder, Swiggy, said, "Rahul’s conviction in India’s technological future, and his instinct for spotting companies that create entirely new private sectors, has been remarkable to witness. His service...