3one4 Capital Research
Investment Thesis
3one4 Capital is a Bengaluru-based early-stage venture capital firm investing in transformative technology companies building for the new Indian economy. Founded in 2015 by Pranav Pai and Siddarth Pai, the firm operates under the thesis that India is approaching a historic economic convergence — driven by a massive consumer install base, the India Stack (Aadhaar, UPI, Jan Dhan), rising digital penetration, and a world-class technology talent pool. 3one4 aims to partner with mission-driven founders building generational innovation engines that set new standards for inclusive value creation and sustainable growth.
The firm's investment approach is rooted in 'pre-consensus conviction' — backing founders and categories before they become obvious to the broader market. This research-led, deep-involvement model is their defining edge, with in-house Finance, Research, Platform, Governance & Business Integrity, and Growth & Capital Development teams acting as force multipliers for portfolio companies.
Stage Focus
3one4 Capital focuses primarily on early-stage investments:
- Seed (primary entry point)
- Pre-Seed and pre-Series A
- Series A follow-ons
- Selective Series B follow-ons for existing portfolio companies
The firm is among the first institutional checks for most portfolio companies, having led over 70 seed and venture capital investments to date.
Check Size
Typical investment range is $0.5 million to $5 million, with a median cheque size of $1.5 million to $3 million. For their most conviction-led pre-product bets, the firm has gone as high as $5 million at seed stage (as with Raise Financial Services/Dhan).
Lead Tendency
3one4 Capital actively leads rounds at the seed stage, often as the first institutional investor. At later stages, they participate in co-led or follow-on rounds. The firm has co-invested with over 300 institutional investors across its portfolio.
Fund History & AUM
3one4 Capital has raised six funds in total:
- Rising I and Continuum I (earlier seed and opportunity funds)
- Fund III (early-stage flagship)
- Fund IV (fourth early-stage fund, sixth overall): closed at $200M in 2023, oversubscribed to $250M but capped for discipline
- Fund V: targeting $225M, in fundraising as of mid-2026 with IFC committing $20M
The firm manages $570M in committed capital (as stated on website), with total AUM of approximately Rs 4,400+ crore (~$530M+). Portfolio companies have a cumulative market cap exceeding $7.5 billion.
Recent Activity
3one4 Capital has been actively deploying from Fund IV and preparing Fund V. Key recent milestones:
- June 2026: Led $7.55M seed round in Rivvun AI (enterprise revenue recovery, co-led with Sitara Capital) — a cross-border SaaS bet reflecting their growing interest in AI and US-market enterprise software
- March 2026: Invested in AGNIT Semiconductors (fabless semiconductor company, deep-tech bet)
- 2026: Partial exit from KukuFM, realising ~90% IRR following KukuFM's $85M Series C at $500M+ valuation
- 2026: Partial exit from Raise Financial Services (Dhan), realising 65% IRR following Raise's $120M Series B at $1.2B+ valuation
- May 2026: Announced targeting of Fund V at $225M with IFC anchor commitment of $20M
- 13 investments made in 2026 year-to-date (per Tracxn)
Portfolio Highlights
3one4 Capital has backed 110+ companies across six funds with 5 unicorns and 29+ profitable exits. Notable companies include:
Unicorns:
- Darwinbox (HR SaaS, backed at seed — now one of Asia's largest HR platforms)
- Licious (D2C meat and seafood, backed at seed)
- Jupiter (consumer neobank, backed at seed)
- Open (SMB neobank, backed at Series A)
- KukuFM (regional language audio content, backed at seed)
Notable exits:
- Tracxn (IPO on BSE/NSE)
- KukuFM (partial exit at ~90% IRR)
- Raise Financial Services/Dhan (partial exit at 65% IRR)
- Loco (gaming live-streaming, exited)
- Toddle (EdTech SaaS, exited)
Strong active portfolio:
- Everstage (sales commission SaaS)
- Dozee (contactless patient monitoring)
- Eka.Care (digital health records)
- Exponent Energy (ultra-fast EV charging)
- Fasal (agritech IoT)
- Growfin (B2B receivables management SaaS)
- IndiaGold (gold-backed lending)
- Nektar (sales AI/SaaS)
- WeRize (distributed fintech for small-town India)
- Wint Wealth (fixed-income investment platform)
- Yulu (EV micro-mobility)
- YourStory (media/startup content platform)
- Unbox Robotics (warehouse automation)
- Ripplr (B2B FMCG distribution)
- Lokal (hyperlocal content app)
- Scimplify (specialty chemicals marketplace)
Team
- Pranav Pai, Founding Partner & CIO: Leads investments and portfolio construction. Has led 70+ seed and venture investments. Stanford MS in Electrical Engineering. Former Co-President of Stanford Angels & Entrepreneurs India. Recognized on GQ's 25 Most Influential Young Indians, Entrepreneur Magazine's 35 Under 35.
- Siddarth Pai, Founding Partner, CFO & ESG Officer: Youngest Executive Council member of IVCA. Chartered Accountant. Expert on AIF regulation, ESG, and India's startup policy. First to make 3one4 a UN PRI signatory VC.
- Anurag Ramdasan, Partner: Heads investments. Has directly invested in and managed 30+ portfolio companies including Koo, Ripplr, WeRize, and Lokal. Former founding team member at EdCast. Engineer and coder.
- Nruthya Madappa, Partner: Investments team, with deep focus on consumer and enterprise investments.
- Richard Pinto, Principal: Investments team.
- Ashwini Thulsaram, Principal: Investments team.
- Sonal Saldanha, Principal: Investments team.
- Ayushi Garg, Principal: Investments team.
- Akshay Sharma, Principal: Investments team.
- Ida Boitlung, Principal: Head of Platform, Programs & Strategic Alliances.
Decision Process
The firm operates as a partnership with a structured investment committee. With multiple partners and principals on the team, 3one4 evaluates deals through a collaborative process. The firm has historically made decisions relatively quickly at the seed stage, consistent with its early-stage focus. Pranav Pai as CIO has final authority on investment decisions.
Geographic Focus
Primarily India-focused, with particular strength in Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Delhi NCR startup ecosystems. The firm is extending to cross-border SaaS (backing India-origin teams building for global enterprise markets, such as Darwinbox, BetterPlace, and Rivvun AI). They are exclusively focused on Indian-origin companies and teams.
Founder Preferences
3one4 backs mission-driven founders with deep domain expertise and operational backgrounds. They favor founders with pre-consensus conviction about market opportunities — those seeing market transitions before they become obvious. The firm values technical depth, disciplined capital allocation, and founders who can build strong institutional governance from early stages. They are particularly attracted to founders targeting India's large, underserved consumer and enterprise markets.
ESG & Responsible Investing
3one4 Capital is the first Indian VC to be approved as a signatory to the UN Principles for Responsible Investing (UN PRI). Siddarth Pai serves as the firm's ESG Officer. The firm explicitly ties its investment thesis to India's progress on sustainable development goals and has a formal Responsible Investing framework.