Nandan Nilekani exits Fundamentum GP role as it launches $200M third fund

Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani is stepping down as a general partner at Fundamentum Partnership, the venture capital firm he helped launch nearly a decade ago, just as the firm kicks off its third fund targeting $200 million. While he exits the GP role, Nilekani will remain the fund’s anchor investor and continue advising the firm and mentoring its portfolio companies, according to co-founder Sanjeev Aggarwal.

Aggarwal described the transition as “just a title thing,” emphasizing that Nilekani will stay deeply involved. “He is an integral part of our firm. The one thing that he enjoys the most is mentoring the teams that we back, and he will continue to do so in Fund III,” Aggarwal told TechCrunch.

At 71, Nilekani is one of India’s most prominent technology figures. Beyond co-founding Infosys, he spearheaded the creation of Aadhaar, India’s biometric identity system, and has been a vocal advocate for the country’s digital public infrastructure, including the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), a real-time payments network used by hundreds of millions. He has also championed the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), an initiative to make e-commerce more open and interoperable.

Nilekani launched Fundamentum in 2017 alongside Aggarwal, who previously helped build Helion Venture Partners. The firm focuses on Series B and later-stage Indian startups, with a portfolio that includes used-car marketplace Spinny, online pharmacy PharmEasy, audio storytelling platform Kuku FM, and AppsForBharat, the developer of the Sri Mandir devotional app. Nilekani did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

The leadership change also expands Fundamentum’s senior investment team. Fund III will be led by Aggarwal along with Prateek Jain, who joined at the firm’s inception in 2017; fintech investor Mayank Kachhwaha, who came on board ahead of Fund II; and finance chief Sanjay Chaturvedi, who has been with the firm for nearly a decade.

Fundamentum’s third fund plans to back eight to ten early-stage startups building in consumer technology, fintech, and AI. Initial checks will be around ₹100 crore (approximately $10.5 million) each. The firm has not announced a first close, but Aggarwal said it has already started deploying capital and expects fundraising to wrap up over the next 12 to 18 months.

Nilekani is making his largest-ever commitment to a venture capital fund with Fund III, according to Aggarwal, who declined to disclose the exact amount. The fund aims to raise roughly half its target from international investors, with the remainder coming from Indian institutions, family offices, founders, and the firm’s partners.

That split reflects how India’s venture capital ecosystem has matured over the past decade. Indian investors now play a much larger role in domestic funds than when Aggarwal helped launch Helion in the mid-2000s. “When we launched Helion, there was no domestic capital in the country, and all the capital was raised from the U. S.,” Aggarwal said. “Over the last five years, we are experiencing very strong interest in Indian investors to back venture capital firms. Now you can build a venture firm with domestic capital.”

Aggarwal told TechCrunch that Fundamentum sees India’s biggest AI opportunity in applications built on existing global models, particularly in financial services, content, and vernacular consumer applications. This stance highlights how much of India’s AI ecosystem centers on application-layer startups rather than those developing frontier models, unlike the U. S. and China, where companies have attracted billions for model-building.

The reshuffle follows the departure of general partner Ashish Kumar, who recently launched Fundamentum Frontier Advisors (F2A), an AI-focused venture fund that also has Nilekani as an anchor investor. Aggarwal said F2A is a separate firm with no operational ties to Fundamentum, and Kumar is not involved in Fund III.

Fundamentum has made 17 investments across its first two funds. Aggarwal said the firm has returned about half the capital from its first fund to investors, while the second fund is now focused on follow-on investments.