SIDBI Venture Capital Ltd (SVCL) has announced the first close of the Antariksh Venture Capital Fund (AVCF) at ₹1,005 crore, with a massive ₹1,000 crore anchor investment from IN-SPACe, the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre. This is SVCL’s 12th venture fund and is being launched with a target corpus of ₹1,600 crore, making it India’s largest space-tech-focused fund and among the biggest globally. After the first close, SVCL will now raise additional capital from domestic and global institutional investors under its green-shoe option.
The fund directly supports India’s ambition of building a $44 billion space economy by 2033, a goal boosted by private participation, ISRO’s commercial success, and rising global demand for space-based applications.
Why This Is a Big Deal for Indian Startups?
This fund arrives at the perfect time. India’s space-tech startups often struggle with long R&D cycles, high capital needs, and limited specialised investors. A dedicated ₹1,600 crore fund changes that equation entirely.
Startups can now access large, patient, research-friendly capital, helping them build everything from launch systems to satellite data platforms. In the next few years, this could push India from being a low-cost launch destination to becoming a full-stack space innovation hub—where hardware, software, and services are all built domestically.
Also Read: Andhra Pradesh secures INR 13.25 lakh crore in MoUs across 12 sectors at CII Partnership Summit 2025
