Boundless VC closes oversubscribed $35M maiden fund for early-stage AI
What's the deal? Boundless VCDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a Mumbai-based venture firm, has closed its first fund at ₹300 crore ($35 million) to back early-stage startups in AI, robotics, space technology, and advanced applications. Founded in 2025 by former Kae CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → partner Natasha Malpani, the firm invests mainly at the pre-seed and seed stages.
The details: BoundlessDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → typically writes cheques of $500,000 to $1 million and follows on in later rounds. It has already invested in 10 companies and plans to keep deploying capital over the next two to three years.
Why now? The fund initially targeted ₹200 crore but was oversubscribed. "We decided we were going to do ₹300 crore, or $35 million. We were oversubscribed. We wanted to make sure we focused on pre-seed and seed," Malpani, general partner, told Mint.
What's the endgame? Boundless invests across the AI stack — foundational models, infrastructure, applications, chips, memory, and power — with a current focus on the intersection of infrastructure and applications. Its portfolio includes Litmus, an AI tutoring startup; travel discovery firm Glide; and HypernormDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, which applies AI to wealth management.
The catch: India has fallen behind the US and China in building globally competitive foundational AI models. The industry sees greater opportunity at the application layer, but a shortage of early-stage local risk capital could hold startups back, especially as domestic demand favours tools built abroad.
Malpani argues the next wave of Indian tech will need investors willing to bet before revenue and unit economics matter. "We have to do the work at pre-seed and seed. We have to surface the companies, then they grow, and then growth funds will invest," she said.
The signal: Boundless joins a small group of Indian firms — including pi VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Antler IndiaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and 3one4 CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → — backing AI at the pre-revenue stage, filling a gap in early risk capital as global peers raise multi-billion-dollar rounds on ideas alone.
Read more: livemint.com
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