Arya Ventures raises GBP £400,000 to back Indian diaspora tech

Arya Ventures, a newly launched venture capital fund, has secured a GBP £400,000 commitment from billionaire investor Siddharth Shankar as part of its ongoing GBP £8 million funding round. The fund focuses on seed-stage technology and artificial intelligence startups founded by Indian-origin entrepreneurs in the UK and the US.

Focus on diaspora

The fund targets companies led by Indian diaspora founders, reflecting the communities' role in the global technology sector. Businesses owned by the Indian diaspora in the UK currently generate GBP £36 billion in annual revenues and employ more than 174,000 people.

Data shows that Indian-origin founders accounted for 72 of 358 US tech unicorns established since 2018, together valued at over GBP £130 billion. Although accounting for only 2.1% of the US population, these individuals have founded 19% of American unicorns.

Backing early growth

Arya Ventures is structured to provide initial investments of GBP £160,000 to GBP £200,000, with the potential for follow-on funding up to GBP £240,000. The fund focuses on technology startups with valuations between GBP £8 million and GBP £32 million, backing businesses at a post-product and post-revenue stage.

The early portfolio includes Avi Vehicles, KnowYourDosh, and Prescribe Life. Avi Vehicles is currently raising its seed round at a sixfold valuation increase. KnowYourDosh has grown monthly recurring revenues from GBP £400 to GBP £5,000. Prescribe Life has moved to the seed stage with a quadrupled valuation, a team that has doubled in size, and a completed minimum viable product.

The fund is also reviewing several other startups, including those supported by Y Combinator and other leading venture capital investors.

Investment rationale

"Indian-origin founders have demonstrated an extraordinary ability to build category-defining companies," said Siddharth Shankar, Global Chief Operating Officer, Komerz. "This fund gives us direct access to that exceptional talent pipeline, and I believe we're investing at exactly the right moment to capture the next wave of innovation."

Notable Indian-origin founders in the global technology space include Mohit Aron, creator of Nutanix and Cohesity; Jyoti Bansal, founder of AppDynamics and Harness; and Ashutosh Garg, who established Bloomreach and Eightfold.ai.

Management background

Anmol Goel, Founding Partner of Arya Ventures, has previously worked at JP Morgan, KPMG, and MMC, and has experience scaling 36 startups and raising more than GBP £52 million across stages from pre-seed to Series B. The fund intends to invest in 20 companies, with an expected holding period of five to seven years for each portfolio company.

"Early-stage venture capital success depends on identifying exceptional founders," said Goel. "Our research shows that 85% of the most highly-educated founders come from the Indian diaspora, and 32% of all Fortune 100 founders are of Indian origin."