Nandan Nilekani, co-founder of Indian IT services company Infosys, will step down from his role as a general partner at Fundamentum Partnership, the venture capital firm he co-founded nearly a decade ago. The change coincides with Fundamentum launching its third fund, which is targeting roughly $200 million in commitments.
Nilekani will continue to play an active role despite relinquishing the general partner title: he will be the new fund’s anchor investor and will keep advising the firm and mentoring founders of portfolio companies. Co-founder Sanjeev Aggarwal told TechCrunch the change is “just a title thing,” and emphasized that Nilekani’s primary passion—mentoring the teams the firm backs—will continue in Fund III.
At 71, Nilekani is one of India’s best-known technology figures. Beyond co-founding Infosys, he led the development of Aadhaar, India’s biometric identity system, and has been a prominent advocate for the country’s digital public infrastructure, including the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). He has also supported the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) initiative.
Fundamentum’s background and Fund III structure
Fundamentum was founded in 2017 by Nandan Nilekani and Sanjeev Aggarwal; Aggarwal previously helped build Helion Venture Partners. The firm typically invests at Series B and later stages. Its portfolio includes Spinny (used-car marketplace), PharmEasy (online pharmacy), Kuku FM (audio storytelling) and AppsForBharat (developer of the Sri Mandir devotional app).
Fundamentum’s third fund (Fund III) plans to back 8–10 early growth-stage startups focused on consumer technology, fintech and AI products. Initial checks are expected to be about ₹100 crore each (roughly $10.5 million). While the firm has not announced a first close, Aggarwal said they have already started deploying capital and expect to complete fundraising over the next 12 to 18 months.
Aggarwal also said Fund III will include Nilekani’s largest-ever commitment to a VC fund, though he did not disclose the amount. The fund expects roughly half of its capital to come from international investors, with the remainder from Indian institutions, family offices, founders and the firm’s partners.
According to Aggarwal, that split reflects how India’s venture capital ecosystem has evolved: when he helped launch Helion in the mid-2000s, domestic capital was scarce and funds were largely raised from the U.S.; today Indian investors play a much larger role in financing domestic venture firms.
AI focus and market orientation
Fundamentum sees India’s biggest AI opportunities in applications built on existing global models, particularly across financial services, content and vernacular consumer apps. That stance highlights how much of India’s AI ecosystem centers on application-layer startups rather than companies building frontier AI models—unlike patterns seen in the U.S. and China.
Leadership expansion and related exits
The leadership change also broadens Fundamentum’s senior investment team. Fund III will be led by Sanjeev Aggarwal alongside Prateek Jain (who joined at the firm’s inception in 2017), fintech investor Mayank Kachhwaha (who joined before Fund II) and finance chief Sanjay Chaturvedi (with the firm for nearly a decade).
This reshuffle follows the earlier departure of general partner Ashish Kumar, who launched AI-focused venture firm Fundamentum Frontier Advisors (F2A); Nilekani is an anchor investor in F2A as well. Aggarwal said F2A is a separate entity with no operational ties to Fundamentum, and that Ashish Kumar is not involved with Fund III.
Fundamentum has made 17 investments across its first two funds. Aggarwal told TechCrunch that the firm has returned about half of the capital from its first fund to investors, and that the second fund is now focused on follow-on investments.
Nilekani did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
