ixigo's Rajnish Kumar launches $105K fund for IIT Kanpur founders
What's the deal? ixigo co-founder and group co-chief executive officer Rajnish Kumar on October 28 launched the Made in Fire Fund, a US$135.8K initiative to back graduating IIT Kanpur students starting companies. The fund will support 10 technology-led startups from each graduating batch, giving each US$13.6K in non-dilutive prototype funding.
What's the endgame? The fund is open to graduating IIT Kanpur students applying individually or as founding teams. It targets ventures in artificial intelligence, SaaS, consumer internet, deep tech, climate, mobility, health tech, and enterprise software.
Why now? India's early-stage market has tightened.
Against that backdrop, a small pool of non-dilutive capital plus mentorship offers graduating founders a way to test prototypes without giving up equity or chasing scarcer seed rounds. IIT Kanpur already offers incubated startups seed loans and prototype grants, making the fund a focused, alumni-backed complement rather than a broad new financing pool.
The signal: Modest, targeted alumni capital is emerging as a practical bridge for first-time founders in a more selective market — filling the gap before institutional money, not replacing it.
Read more: money.rediff.com
Image credit: niyam bhushan
