pi Ventures Raises INR 22 Crore From Belgium's Colruyt Group The investment comes after pi Ventures announced the first closing of its second fund at INR 303.5 crore in Jan 2022, raising funds from entrepreneurs, HNIs and Family Offices from across the globe
By Teena Jose
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Early-stage venture fund pi Ventures, which invests in disruptive artificial intelligence and deeptech startups, has raised INR 22 crore from Colruyt Group India, the Group's extended IT arm based out of Hyderabad. The investment comes after pi Ventures announced the first closing of its second fund at INR 303.5 crore in Jan 2022, raising funds from entrepreneurs, HNIs and Family Offices from across the globe. With the Colruyt's investment, the fund is said to be on track to do its final close in the second quarter of CY 2023 in the range of 675 crore to 750 crore. The fund is backed by BII, Nippon India Digital Innovation AIF (NIDIA), Accel, and entrepreneurs & family offices such as Binny Bansal, Varun Alagh, Samit Shetty, Rajesh Ranavat,, Anupam Mittal, Hemendra Kothari, Hitesh Oberoi, Ullas Kamath, Deep Kalra, senior leaders from IBM, Facebook and Google among others.
"We are delighted to have the support from Colruyt. The confidence in our team and our investment strategy reinforces our commitment to support talented entrepreneurs who are creating disruptive products that solve fundamental real-world problems with innovative technology backed solutions. With the association with Colruyt, we are excited about unlocking opportunities in Europe for our portfolio companies," said Manish Singhal, founding partner, pi Ventures.
pi Ventures will continue to focus on early stage (seed/ pre-Series A/Series A) investments via this fund and so far has committed in seven startups - ImmunitoAI, Ottonomy.IO, Silence Laboratories, Preimage and three other ventures. Fund plans to invest in 20-25 such startups in the coming two to three years, according to an official statement by the company.
"Our association with Pi ventures is most opportune as we strongly believe in the digital possibilities where we ourselves are the biggest consumer of tech. We are excited to partner with Pi ventures and their portfolio companies and to leverage our mutual capabilities to contribute actively in the digital evolution," said Hari Subramanian, managing director, Colruyt Group India and Partner, Korys Investments- India.
Established in 2016 by Manish Singhal, pi Ventures is an early stage venture capital fund pioneering AI and deep tech investments in India.
