Eximius Ventures, a pre-seed focused venture capital (VC) firm, has announced the launch of its second fund, targeting a corpus of $30 million.

With Fund II, the VC plans to take bets in 25-30 companies across fintech, artificial intelligence (AI)/software-as-a-service (SaaS), frontier tech and consumer tech, with an initial cheque of $500,000 each while reserving half of the corpus for follow-on investments to further support its high-potential portfolio companies.

Fund II has already invested in four companies across consumer tech and AI/SaaS with investments either led or co-led by Eximius Ventures alongside other marquee institutional investors.

Eximius is focused on pre-seed investments.

Pre-seed start-ups

Pearl Agarwal, Founder and Managing Partner at Eximius Ventures, said, “At a time when funding is becoming increasingly selective, Eximius is doubling down on pre-seed start-ups to drive momentum in India’s innovation ecosystem. Our goal is to bridge the gap for founders seeking their first institutional capital, while enabling them to thrive in a competitive global market. With this new fund, we’re excited to accelerate growth and forge long-term partnerships with visionary founders.”

Led by Pearl Agarwal and Preeti Sampat, its inaugural $10-million fund was launched in 2021. Fund II will draw capital from a diverse mix of limited partners, including high net-worth individuals, founder-investors, family offices, as well as global Japanese corporate venture companies.

About 60 per cent of these portfolio companies of Fund I have secured multiple up-rounds from prominent global investors, delivering an IRR of greater than 40 per cent. Fund II will double down on the success of Fund I using a similar strategy, said the company in a statement.

Published on January 23, 2025