BAT VC Launches $100 Million Fund Targeting India’s AI and DeepTech Startups
BAT VC, a prominent venture capital firm based in New York, has formally announced its expansion into the Indian market with a $100 million commitment through its second investment fund. This move marks a significant step in the firm’s strategy to back India-linked startups that are driving breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and DeepTech, particularly in the FinTech and enterprise SaaS sectors.
Building on the momentum of its earlier fund, which included investments in companies such as Wand AI, StockGro, and acquired ventures like Nickelytics and Accern, BAT VC aims to deepen its engagement with the rapidly evolving Indian startup ecosystem. The firm believes that India's technological and talent landscape has matured to a point where it can serve as a foundation for globally scalable innovation.
India Positioned as a Global AI Growth Hub
BAT VC’s expansion is driven by its analysis of India’s AI trajectory, which currently reflects an annual growth rate of 32%. Projections indicate that the sector could be worth $23 billion by 2027, supported by a workforce of over 450,000 professionals skilled in AI and machine learning. Alongside this growth, India’s enterprise SaaS sector has reached a valuation of $8.7 billion, expanding at more than twice the global average. The rise in U.S.-India cross-border investments in AI—up 180 % to $4.7 billion last year—has further reinforced the firm's confidence in India as a key innovation hub.
Leadership and Vision for the Indian Market
The India-focused initiative will be led by three General Partners with complementary expertise in technology, entrepreneurship, and venture scaling. Manish Maheshwari, formerly the head of Twitter India and a Harvard Mason Fellow, will anchor the India operations from Bengaluru. He previously founded an AI venture that was recently acquired. Joining him are Aditya Mishra, who brings experience from roles at Yahoo! and Accenture and has previously exited a startup, and Ravi Metta, a former chief technology officer with a deep background in enterprise software development.
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Together, they plan to identify early-stage companies with the potential to lead in AI product innovation. Their approach is shaped by BAT VC’s emphasis on combining early technical due diligence with long-term operational support. The team also sees India’s market as offering asymmetric opportunity, given its large population and still relatively low share—about 5 percent—of global venture capital allocation.
Favorable Macro Conditions and Institutional Backing
The firm’s entry into India comes at a time of considerable momentum in the country’s startup landscape. Funding levels have more than doubled in recent years, reaching $27 billion. The number of scaled startups with revenues above $10 million has tripled, and public tech exits have exceeded $36 billion in the last five years. Much of this has been fueled by sectors aligned with BAT VC’s interests—FinTech, SaaS, and AI-enabled digital infrastructure.
Despite this growth, India remains underrepresented in global venture capital portfolios. BAT VC views this as a clear arbitrage opportunity and believes the gap between India’s economic scale and capital inflow will narrow as more global investors seek alternatives to markets like China.
Aiming for Global Scale Through Cross-Border Collaboration
The firm’s dual-market strategy—leveraging both U.S. and Indian ecosystems—is intended to give startups the best of both worlds: access to capital and networks in the United States and scalable talent and growth opportunities in India. The partners believe that their technical depth, combined with their operational experience, uniquely positions them to help founders navigate early-stage development through to global scale.
Investor interest in the fund has reportedly been strong, with institutional backers and family offices from both countries expressing confidence in the model. As geopolitical dynamics shift and technology becomes increasingly central to global economic competitiveness, BAT VC considers India not a peripheral opportunity, but a core market for the next decade of innovation.
