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Seed stage venture capital firm WEH Ventures has announced the first close of Fund III, its third fund, with a target corpus of Rs 250 crore. The fund will back 20 to 25 early stage Indian startups serving customers in India and global markets. WEH Ventures launched Fund I in 2017, followed by its flagship Fund II in 2020. Fund I has returned 1.4x capital, while Fund II has already returned capital through one exit and is tracking above top quartile performance, according to the firm. The first close has attracted participation from family offices, exited founders and senior corporate and technology executives. Early backers include Play Capital, a Nordic fund of funds, and family offices such as Eraya, Twin & Bull Investments and Heritage Investments. The investor base also includes exited founders from companies such as Oziva and GS Labs, along with senior executives and CEOs from Thermax, Haleon, Lenovo and PNB MetLife. Senior Silicon Valley executives associated with companies such as Arlo and Intuitive Surgical have also participated. Fund III will invest across sectors such as advanced manufacturing, agriculture, energy transition, artificial intelligence and healthcare, along with consumer and fintech. WEH Ventures has already started deploying capital from Fund III and has committed to eight investments across advanced agriculture, robotics, healthcare diagnostics, retail and edtech. The fund's investments announced so far include Fragaria, which operates in advanced horticulture, Praan Health, which focuses on fitness services and health products, and PlayBlue, a sports retail company. One of its portfolio companies has also raised a subsequent round at a higher valuation. WEH Ventures expects to complete the final close of Fund III by mid 2027. Since 2017, the firm has invested in more than 30 companies. Its portfolio includes Smallcase, Jar, Pratilipi, Animall, MasterChow, AppsforBharat, Unbox Robotics and Mitigata. The Indian startup ecosystem has seen several new seed and early stage funds in 2026, with investors focusing on sectors such as deeptech, AI, enterprise technology and IP led businesses. Java Capital launched its third fund with a target corpus of Rs 400 crore, including a Rs 150 crore greenshoe option, to back 15 to 20 seed stage deeptech startups. Aum Ventures launched its second fund, India Innovation Fund II, targeting Rs 750 crore to invest in 25 to 30 pre seed and seed stage IP driven startups. Anicut Capital also launched its Rs 175 crore Grand Anicut Seed Fund, with a Rs 75 crore greenshoe option, targeting more than 20 startups across deeptech, enterprise tech, consumer and financial services from pre seed to Series A. Meanwhile, Peak XV Partners closed $1.3 billion across three funds, including an India seed fund, while Elevation Capital closed its $500 million ninth India focused fund targeting seed and Series A companies.
document fetched 2026-09-30 03:02