pi Ventures, India’s first Applied Artificial Intelligence and IoT focused early stage venture fund has been backed by CDC Group with $6 million, which will be used by the company to invest in startups with deep tech capabilities that have the potential to disrupt sectors and facilitate a lasting change in businesses and lives.
CDC Group is the UK government’s development finance institution that aims to increase capital flows to underdeveloped markets so countries can finance their way out of poverty.
Their focus is to find talented teams and cohesively grow great businesses in Africa and South Asia. CDC’s unique structure combines the best of private sector skills with a public-spirited mission. Their focus sectors to invest include financial services, infrastructure, health, manufacturing, food and agriculture, construction and real estate, and education, typically that which will lead to the economic growth of a country.
Alagappan Murugappan, Managing Director, Head of Intermediated Equity, South Asia, CDC Group said, “We are pleased to be supporting pi Ventures for its AI-focused fund. This allows our capital to support early-stage companies that are innovating through technology to provide affordable goods and services at scale in areas such as healthcare among others.”
pi Ventures announced their second close in January this year at $25 million and the fund is expected to announce their final close shortly. Key contributors to the fund include Chairman of Hero Enterprise Sunil Kant Munjal, Electronic Development Fund (managed by Canbank Ventures), SIDBI, prominent family offices from USA, Canada, Singapore & India and leading entrepreneurs like Mohandas Pai, Binny Bansal, Deep Kalra, Sanjeev Bikchandani and Bhupen Shah among others. The fund is co-sponsored by In Color Capital of Canada.
Manish Singhal, Founding Partner, pi Ventures added, “CDC’s confidence fuels our vision to find, fund and support the best teams who are using Artificial Intelligence to solve real world problems. We are very happy to have their support and backing”.
pi Ventures has announced six investments so far — SigTuple, NIRAMAI, ten3T, Zenatix, CustomerSuccessBox and Locus.sh.
The 70-year old CDC Group has been investing in India for over 30 years and has already made 595 investments across sectors.
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