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Early-stage venture capital (VC) firm Ankur Capital is expecting the first close of its third fund in December, the firm told YourStory. 

Ankur is looking to make two to three investments this financial year that will be early cheques from the new fund, said Zahin Hussain, President of Partnerships at Ankur Capital. 

The update on Ankur’s $150 million fund comes at a time when VC funding into Indian startups has slowed down, with the ecosystem seeing immense challenges while raising capital, primarily due to interest rate hikes in the US. 

The VC will back around 25 companies from its third fund, and while initial cheque sizes will be in the range of $1-2 million, it will do follow-ons of up to $10 million in a company, according to Rema Subramanian, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Ankur Capital. 

Founded in 2014 by Ritu Verma and Subramanian, Ankur Capital backs science-driven startups solving real-life challenges and currently has 22 startups in its portfolio. The VC started deploying from its second fund of $50 million in 2020. From its first fund—which reached its final close in 2016—the VC firm has exited from seven companies to date. 

Last week, at its recently concluded event, Ankur Capital Connext 2023, the VC firm also reflected on the disruptive potential of its portfolio companies. 

Ankur’s portfolio includes biotech startup String Bio, which uses biotechnology to produce animal feed and food ingredients in an environmentally friendly and cost-effective manner, as well as zinc-based battery platform Offgrid Energy Labs. The Mumbai-based VC has several agritech firms in its portfolio as well. 

“Capital is no longer the disrupter, innovation is,” Ritu said at the event, adding that it will help entrepreneurs build the new categories of tomorrow and will be doubling down on this with its next fund. 

While highlighting how the VC firm is helping build deep science solutions in industries such as agriculture, food, healthcare, and energy, Zahin said Ankur is bullish on deep science tech and is doubling down due to immense potential in the space and the impact it could have. 

Zahin told YourStory that Ankur plans to deploy about 30% of its corpus in deep science tech. 

Some portfolio companies shared updates during the event. Offgrid is expecting to commercialise its products within the next year, the firm’s co-founder and CEO Tejas Kusurkar told YourStory on the sidelines of the event. The startup had raised funds from Shell Ventures, Ankur, and other investors last year.