Yali Capital raises Rs 893 crore to invest in India's deeptech sector

Yali Capital, a SEBI-registered Category II Alternative Investment Fund (AIF), today announced the closure of its maiden deeptech-focused fund at Rs 893 crore or about $104 million, exceeding its original target of Rs 500 crore and Rs 310 crore greenshoe option.

The fund will invest across the early stage (Seed, Series A) and late stage (Series D and beyond) spectrum, with a focus on deeptech sectors including semiconductors, AI, robotics, genomics, aerospace/surveillance, and smart manufacturing.

The fund has attracted backing from leading corporates such as Infosys, Qualcomm Ventures, and Tata AIG, as well as from institutional sources like DPIIT’s Fund of Funds for Startups and the Self-Reliant India Fund.

The Limited Partner (LP) roster also includes several notable individual investors: Kris Gopalakrishnan (Pratithi), Gopal Srinivasan (Founder, TVS Capital), Vallabh Bhansali (ENAM), Utpal Sheth (CEO, RARE Enterprises), Vishal Kampani (MD, JM Financial), Sanjay Nayak (Co-Founder, Tejas Networks), Nambi Seshadri (former CTO, Broadcom Wireless), and C. Srinivasan (Co-Founder, Cosmic Circuits).

"It is heartening to see the government, global corporations, and successful entrepreneurs come together to back Yali's deep tech thesis. I look forward to supporting Yali in laying the foundation for India's deep tech ecosystem," said Lip-Bu Tan.

Yali Capital was founded by Ganapathy Subramaniam, co-founder of Cosmic Circuits, and Mathew Cyriac, former India co-head at Blackstone. The firm operates through a dual structure comprising a SEBI-registered AIF and a GIFT City-based feeder vehicle to attract global investors. It has already made five investments, ranging from chip design to AI, and plans to expand its portfolio to eight companies by the end of the year..

"Nearly a third of our fund will be invested in late-stage deep tech companies. India has a real opportunity to build globally competitive public companies in this space. We are grateful to the global investor community for backing our vision," said Mathew Cyriac

Yali has already announced investments in companies such as C2I Semiconductor, 4basecare, and Perceptyne, and plans to continue actively deploying capital over the next four years.

"We are deeply grateful for the overwhelming support from the global tech community. Two-thirds of the fund will be deployed in early-stage deep tech startups. We firmly believe in India's deep tech potential and are committed to backing visionary founders with patient capital," added Ganapathy Subramaniam, Founding Managing Partner of Yali Capital.