Startups & Funding
Nandan Nilekani steps down as GP at Fundamentum Partnership
Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani is stepping down as general partner at Fundamentum Partnership as the firm targets about $200 million for its third fund.
Nandan Nilekani is stepping down from his active general partner role at Fundamentum Partnership, the Indian venture capital firm he co-founded in 2017, just as the firm launches its third fund, targeting to raise about $200 million. Co-founder Sanjeev Aggarwal described the change as “just a title thing.”
Nilekani, 71, will remain the fund’s anchor investor — making his largest-ever commitment to a venture capital fund — and will continue advising the firm and mentoring portfolio companies, according to Aggarwal, who said mentoring is what Nilekani enjoys most and that he will continue doing so in Fund III. The firm’s leadership team is also expanding: alongside Aggarwal, Fund III will be led by partners Prateek Jain, Mayank Kachhwaha, and Sanjay Chaturvedi.
Fund III aims to back eight to 10 early-stage startups, issuing initial checks of about ₹100 crore (around $10.5 million) each, with a focus on consumer tech, fintech, and application-layer AI products. Aggarwal expects the fundraising to conclude over the next 12 to 18 months, and expects the fund to raise roughly half of its target from international investors, with the remainder coming from Indian sources. That balance marks a shift from when Aggarwal helped launch Helion Venture Partners, when domestic capital was largely absent from the country and funds relied on U.S. capital; Aggarwal said Indian investor interest in backing venture capital firms has grown strong over the past five years, making it possible to build a venture firm with domestic capital today.
The leadership change follows the departure of former general partner Ashish Kumar, who launched Fundamentum Frontier Advisors (F2A), an AI-focused venture fund also anchored by Nilekani. F2A is a separate firm with no operational connection to Fundamentum, and Kumar is not involved in Fund III. Fundamentum has made 17 investments across its first two funds, and has returned about half of the capital from its first fund to investors.
Why it matters
The leadership transition marks a shift for one of India’s most prominent tech leaders as Fundamentum launches a third fund targeting about $200 million amid a growing domestic venture capital ecosystem in India.