Golden Sparrow Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on Indian-origin founders in deep technology and enterprise artificial intelligence, has announced the first close of its second fund, with a target size of $20 million. More than half of the fund has already been committed, marking a strong early response from investors. Notably, over 60 percent of the limited partners from the firm’s first fund have chosen to reinvest, reflecting continued confidence in Golden Sparrow’s investment approach and portfolio performance.
Focused Bets on Early-Stage Innovation
Fund II is designed to back around 22 startups operating at the pre-seed and seed stages. The fund plans to deploy capital with an average cheque size of approximately $650,000 per company. In line with Golden Sparrow’s core thesis, the portfolio will be evenly split, with 50 percent allocated to deep-tech ventures and the remaining 50 percent directed toward enterprise AI startups.
The firm has also earmarked about 12 percent of the total fund for follow-on investments. This reserve is intended to support high-performing portfolio companies as they scale, allowing Golden Sparrow to deepen its participation in startups that demonstrate strong growth potential.
First Investment Already in Place
Even as fundraising continues, the firm has moved swiftly to deploy capital from Fund II. Golden Sparrow has completed its inaugural investment, backing a repeat founder who is building an enterprise data platform. The startup focuses on cleaning, organizing, and structuring legacy data for large organizations, addressing a longstanding challenge faced by enterprises operating with fragmented or outdated data systems.
The investment was made at the earliest institutional stage and is positioned within the cross-border corridor, aligning with Golden Sparrow’s interest in supporting globally relevant businesses led by Indian-origin founders.
About Golden Sparrow Ventures
Golden Sparrow Ventures was founded in 2023 by Rishaad Currimjee and is based in India. The firm focuses on investing in companies operating across areas such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, deep tech and hard science, and SaaS and DevOps. Its investment philosophy centers on backing technically strong founders at the earliest stages and supporting them as they build globally relevant products.
With Fund II now underway and early investments already made, Golden Sparrow Ventures is positioning itself as an active participant in India’s evolving deep-tech and enterprise AI ecosystem, building on its initial track record while pursuing long-term value creation.
Track Record from Fund I
The announcement of Fund II follows the full deployment of Golden Sparrow’s first fund, which was sized at $8 million. Fund I was invested across 18 companies between 2023 and 2025. According to the firm, this portfolio has delivered top-decile performance, highlighting the effectiveness of its early-stage selection and support strategy.
Companies backed under Fund I span a range of advanced technology domains. These include space-technology startup EtherealX, semiconductor-focused Morphing Machines, MyoLab, Theranautilus, and GPU virtualization company Hosted AI. The diversity of the portfolio reflects the firm’s broad view of deep tech, covering both hardware-intensive and software-driven innovation.
Policy Environment Aligns with Deep-Tech Push
The fund announcement comes at a time when India’s policy landscape is increasingly supportive of deep-tech development. The Union Budget 2026-27 signals a shift in approach, moving beyond isolated funding for technology growth toward building complete technology ecosystems. The budget emphasizes not only innovation but also supporting infrastructure, domestic manufacturing, and human capital development, all of which are critical for the long-term success of deep-tech companies.
This broader ecosystem focus is expected to benefit early-stage investors and founders alike by creating a more enabling environment for research-driven and capital-intensive startups.
Long-Term Return Vision
Golden Sparrow Ventures has set a target of achieving 5x gross returns over a 10-year fund lifecycle. The return expectations are aligned with the firm’s emphasis on early-stage investments in technically complex sectors, where long development cycles are balanced by the potential for meaningful value creation over time.
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