360 ONE Asset, the asset management arm of wealth manager 360 ONE WAM, has launched a Rs 500 crore ($60 million) early-stage venture capital fund as part of its broader Rs 25,000 crore private equity platform, marking a significant push into India’s startup ecosystem.
The sector-agnostic fund will focus on high-growth areas such as consumer tech, fintech infrastructure, generative AI, spacetech, defence, and advanced manufacturing.
This new strategy is designed to bridge the gap between micro-VCs and large global funds, and will back startups from their first institutional round through to later stages, taking a high-ownership, board-level role in portfolio companies.
Backing India’s next wave of startups
The early-stage fund is being led by Abhishek Nag, who previously held senior roles at Meta and Uber, and now serves as Senior Fund Manager and Strategy Head for Early-Stage VC at 360 ONE Asset.
“We aim to bridge the white space between India’s robust micro-VC ecosystem and the large global funds – by backing founders early and supporting them with patient, long-term capital throughout their growth journey,” said Abhishek Nag.
“We follow a disciplined investment process with rigorous diligence, clear value creation plans, and defined exit strategies. We also offer active co-investment opportunities for strategic partners – all while staying focused on long-term macro trends like domestic consumption, financial infrastructure, healthcare, AI-led services, and deep tech innovation,” he added.
The firm is already investing in four startups. These include a hybrid-casual gaming startup whose flagship India-focused game hit 10 million downloads in three months; a hot sauce brand popularising Indian flavours abroad; a SaaS firm building a “mutual fund AMC in a box”; and a spacetech startup developing indigenous Synthetic Aperture Radar technology with ISRO expertise.
Proprietary deal flow, advisory firepower
360 ONE Asset said it has built a proprietary deal pipeline through a network of over 7,000 founders and domain experts, giving it deep access to emerging ventures across India’s startup landscape. It also plans to offer co-investment opportunities to strategic partners and LPs.
The fund is supported by the advisory board, comprising Gaurav Kushwaha (Founder of Bluestone), Nigel Vaz (CEO of Publicis Sapient), Vaibhav Domkundwar (Founder of Better Capital), and Ashwin Mittal (Executive Chairman of C5i).
“As India approaches its next wave of startup-led economic transformation, 360 ONE Asset’s early-stage strategy aims to be at the forefront, identifying, backing and shaping the companies that will define the next generation of unicorns,” said Sameer Nath, CIO & Head, Private Equity & Venture Capital, 360 ONE Asset.
