15+ Years of Driving DeepTech, ClimateTech, and AI Innovations.
From the Founders of Bharat Innovation Fund!
“Pioneers in venture investing and ecosystem building, empowering transformative startups with cutting-edge technologies to bring India’s innovation to the global stage.”
Backing innovation-first ventures from game changing entrepreneurs
The partners of “The Innovation Fund” launched Bharat Innovation Fund-I in 2018 with IIMA Ventures, after leading Nasscom’s India Innovation Fund and India’s first cleantech fund, Infuse Ventures. Key investments include Sedemac (IIT Bombay spinout, powering 44M+ two-wheelers), Fourth Partner Energy (1.5 GW+ renewables, backed by IFC, ADB, DEG, Norfund, TPG Rise Fund), global category creating innovators like Entropik (Emotion AI) and FireCompass (Autonomous Red Teaming), and exits to CRED (CreditVidya) and Pine Labs (SETU.co).
Strategies
Fund-II builds on Fund-I’s success, focusing on three Deeptech areas: Advanced Software & AI, Hardware Technologies, and Deep Science & R&D Innovations. 16 Deeptech startups from our Fund-I have filed over 80+ global patents, underscoring the portfolio’s innovation depth.
Advanced Software & AI
We have been early pioneers in AI investments since 2018, backing startups that leverage advanced software and Artificial Intelligence to solve complex problems. Our portfolio includes leaders like Entropik, Detech, FireCompass, Clodura, A5G Networks, Portl and AlgoBio – driving innovations across sectors—from enterprise automation and next-gen networking to life sciences.
Hardware Tech
Inspired by ISRO’s frugal innovation, our hardware investments deliver affordable, efficient solutions made in India for global markets. Fund-I includes leaders in phygital toys Playshifu (2.5M+ kids in 15+ countries), fitness tech Portl, and Sedemac, which powers 44M+ two-wheelers with advanced motor control.
Deep Science
India’s top research labs and institutions have long focused on papers and patents—now, that innovation is rapidly translating into breakthrough products and startups. Our investments span molecular computing (Algorithmic Biologics), immuno-oncology (Zumutor), artificial liver technology (Ykrita), and shape-changing polymers for intro-ocular lens (Nayam Innovation), many emerging from India’s top universities and research labs.
Portfolio
Through our early-stage capital, unparalleled networks and strategic insights, we support companies at their Pre-Series A and Series A stages.
Our Team
Ashwin Raguraman
Co-Founder and Partner
Ashwin Raguraman
Ashwin Raguraman is a Co-founder and Partner at BIF (Bharat Innovation Fund). Previously, he founded and led the India Innovation Fund, an early-stage VC backed by NASSCOM, investing in startups like Mitra Biotech, Sedemac, and Consure Medical. He has held board and advisory roles in multiple startups and played a key role in shaping India’s tech startup ecosystem through NASSCOM’s Innovation Initiative.
Ashwin has served on the Government of India’s SIP-EIT committee, the IIT Kanpur Bioincubator investment committee, and CCamp. Earlier, he worked at Wipro Technologies and began his career as a Marine Engineer with Maersk.
Shyam Menon
Co-Founder and Partner
Shyam Menon
Shyam Menon is a Partner and Co-Founder at Bharat Innovation Fund. Previously, he co-founded Infuse Ventures, India’s first cleantech-focused fund. With over a decade in the energy sector, he has held investment roles at Conduit Ventures in London and the World Bank’s clean energy team. He also worked at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and fuel cell companies in the U.S.
Shyam holds a Master’s in Materials Engineering from the University of Missouri, a Bachelor’s from NIT Nagpur, and advanced energy policy studies from UC Berkeley. He is a Rolls-Royce Chevening Scholar from Oxford’s Said Business School.
Som Pal Choudhury
Co-Founder and Partner
Somshubhro (Som) Pal Choudhury
Somshubhro (Som) Pal Choudhury is a Co-Founder and Partner at BIF Ventures (Bharat Innovation Fund). Previously, he was the Managing Director of Analog Devices India and spent nearly two decades in Silicon Valley in leadership roles at NETGEAR, Cadence Design Systems, and an early M2M/IoT startup.
Som serves on the board of the US-India Science and Technology Fund (USISTEF) and multiple deeptech startups. He is part of MeitY’s semiconductor startup selection committee and was a board member of IESA. He co-chairs TiE MatrixForum and the TiE Matrix Global Summit. An IIT Kharagpur and Wharton graduate, he co-authored New Kind of Computational Biology, published by Springer.
Som serves on the board of the US-India Science and Technology Fund (USISTEF) and multiple deeptech startups. He is part of MeitY’s semiconductor startup selection committee and was a board member of IESA. He co-chairs TiE MatrixForum and the TiE Matrix Global Summit. An IIT Kharagpur and Wharton graduate, he co-authored New Kind of Computational Biology, published by Springer.
Sanjay Jain
Advisor
Sanjay Jain
Sanjay Jain is a Partner at Bharat Innovation Fund and Chief Innovation Officer at CIIE.co, driving entrepreneurship in digital technology. A volunteer with iSPIRT, he has been a key contributor to India Stack, Open API, and UPI, working with NPCI and regulators to enable cashless and paperless processes.
Previously, he was Chief Product Manager at UIDAI, leading Aadhaar’s development, and created Google Map Maker, shaping Google Maps data for 170+ countries. He has also worked at TIBCO and Sun Microsystems. Sanjay holds an M.S. in Computer Science from UCLA and a B.Tech from IIT Bombay.
