Novastar Partners has made an undisclosed investment in AJVC (A Junior VC), the pre-seed fund run by Aviral Bhatnagar, its first bet on a fund-of-funds structure.
Novastar, founded by Dhruv Jhunjhunwala, invests in private equity and venture capital funds alongside selective direct bets in technology and tech-enabled businesses across India’s private markets. Jhunjhunwala said Novastar is the only fund-of-funds in India to have backed AJVC, and that a programmatic pre-seed approach can generate outsized returns.
The Numbers Behind the Fund
AJVC runs a corpus of roughly Rs 165 crore. It has backed more than 35 companies so far and plans to fund over 85 companies over its life, putting it roughly a third of the way through its deployment by portfolio count.
According to Indian Startup Times, AJVC has engaged with more than 25,000 startup teams in under two years, a ratio of over 700 startups evaluated for every company it has backed.
AJVC invests at the pre-seed stage across artificial intelligence, healthcare, deeptech, consumer technology and brands. Its next close will show whether the fund holds its current screening ratio as the portfolio grows toward 85 companies.
Sources
- Indian Startup Times: reported AJVC’s startup engagement figures and screening ratio.
Reporting compiled and contextualised by TechScoop India. Figures reconciled across the sources above.
Originally reported by entrackr.