SilverX Fund Announces ₹800 Crore Commitment to Back India's AI-First and Deep-Tech Startups
SilverX Fund, the second fund from the team at Silverneedle Ventures, was announced on November 21, 2025, at T-Hub, Hyderabad. The event brought together India's startup ecosystem - founders, investors, and industry leaders - to mark the beginning of a new chapter in deep-tech venture capital.
About SilverX Fund
SilverX Fund is raising ₹800 crores (with a ₹400 crore greenshoe option) to deploy high-conviction capital into AI-first, deep-tech, and consumer technology startups at the Seed+ to Series A/B stages. The fund aims to back 18-20 category-defining companies over its investment period, with first cheque sizes ranging from $1-2 million and 60% of the corpus reserved for follow-on investments.
"SilverX Fund represents our evolution as investors. Building on the learnings from Fund 1, we're now positioned to make deeper, more concentrated bets on founders building the infrastructure and platforms that will define India's next decade."
- Ajay Jain, Founder & Managing Partner
Investment Thesis: Backing Category Definers
SilverX Fund's investment mandate centers on identifying inflection points where technological capabilities, market timing, and founder excellence converge. The fund focuses on four key themes:
- AI Natives: Developer platforms, horizontal and vertical AI applications, and consumer AI solutions
- Deep Technology: Patent and IP-driven companies with defensible innovation
- Sunrise Sectors: Quantum computing, advanced materials, and semiconductors
- Consumer Technology: Mass-adoption platforms with strong unit economics and capital-efficient scaling
Key verticals include social commerce, fintech, and the creator economy.
The Team Behind SilverX
The fund is led by a team with over 70 years of combined experience as investors, operators, and entrepreneurs:
- Ajay Jain, Founder & Managing Partner: 22+ years of experience across Xseed Partners, T-Hub, CIE IIITH, Gray Matters Capital, Intel, and AMD
- Dhiraj Kumar Sinha, Managing Partner: 25+ years across VC and large corporate houses including SucSEED Indovation, Air Costa, and Max India
- Abishek Balendran, Partner: 10+ years of investment and exit experience across early and mature-stage investments with Nirvana Ventures, Xander Private Equity, and JM Financial
- Sanjay Rastogi, Partner: 25+ years in technology with 6+ years in healthtech, including leadership at Innovaccer (Unicorn) and Oracle
The team has collectively managed 150+ investments with a cumulative portfolio value exceeding $5 billion and 20 exits to date.
Event Highlights
The event featured two compelling panel discussions that explored the future of India's startup ecosystem:
Moderated by Subramanian C. (Vrddhi Business Solutions), featuring Pranav Vempati, Anurag Garg, and Venkat Nalam
Moderated by Prashanth Bandi (Anthrobyte), featuring Sanjay Nekkanti, Ranju Sigtia, and Dhiraj Kumar Sinha
The event was supported by ICICI Bank as a partner, reinforcing the institutional commitment to India's startup ecosystem.
Fund 1 Track Record
SilverX Fund builds on the success of Silverneedle Ventures' first fund, a SEBI-registered Category I AIF with 16 investments across AI-native solutions, consumer technology, and deep-tech sectors. Portfolio companies include OnFinance (AI-native solutions), SuperK (consumer mass adoption), and Dhruva Space (deep-tech/space-tech).
Why Now: India's AI-First Decade
"India is at a critical inflection point. As deglobalization reshapes supply chains and technological sovereignty becomes imperative, there's an unprecedented opportunity to build core IP and sovereign infrastructure. The five sectors we've identified - eldercare tech, data centers, AI lending, AI diagnostics, and EDA & semiconductors - represent a combined market opportunity exceeding $583 billion by 2033."
Early-stage venture capital has consistently outperformed other asset classes in India, delivering 29.5% net IRR and 3.9x DPI for funds from the 2015-18 vintage period, compared to 24.2% IRR for private equity and 12-17% CAGR for public markets.
Looking Ahead
With Fund 1's proven track record and an expanded corpus, SilverX Fund is positioned to make larger, more concentrated bets on India's most promising deep-tech startups. The fund will officially begin deployment following SEBI registration in March 2026.
"This is just the beginning. We're here to back the founders who aren't just participating in markets - they're defining them. The next decade belongs to India's AI-first and deep-tech innovators, and we're committed to being their long-term partners."