Kamal Ghorui
Bengaluru: The centre has notified the Startup India Fund of Funds 2.0 with a Rs 10,000 crore corpus to channel venture capital into startups, with a focus on deeptech and manufacturing.The scheme retains the earlier fund-of-funds structure, with government capital flowing into SEBI-registered Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs), which will invest in startups.What is new is the sharper targeting of segments. The notification lays out a “segmented approach” including “AIFs supporting deep tech… startups engaged in developing novel solutions addressing complex problems that involve longer R&D cycles, higher costs,” alongside early-stage funds and manufacturing-focused startups.It also builds in flexibility for capital-intensive sectors, noting support for “larger corpuses” and “longer duration AIFs” to cater to startups with long gestation periods.Significantly, the scheme acknowledges gaps in private funding, allowing “higher contribution… for specific segments (such) as deep tech and manufacturing wherein private capital is limited and cautious.”The fund is also positioned as an “umbrella framework for co-investment” with ministries and institutional investors, expanding beyond a pure fund-of-funds model. Up to 5% of returns can be deployed for ecosystem support, including “capacity building… mentorship, and regulatory support,” with the rest routed back to the Consolidated Fund of India.The Small Industries Development Bank of India will implement the scheme, with additional agencies to be appointed.
