Earth Fund Research
Investment Thesis
Earth Fund is India's first urbantech and sustainability-focused venture capital platform, launched in 2025 as a joint venture between Brigade Group (one of South India's largest real estate developers) and Gruhas, the proptech-focused venture platform co-founded by Nikhil Kamath. The fund is structured as a SEBI-registered Category II Alternative Investment Fund (AIF), with Zoiros Projects Private Limited as investment manager and Axis Trustee Services as trustee. The thesis centers on backing technology companies that modernize real estate, construction, and urban infrastructure while advancing climate and sustainability outcomes. Beyond capital, Earth Fund emphasizes "industry integration, direct market access, strategic fundraising, and growth acceleration," leveraging Brigade's developer relationships and Gruhas' operator network to give portfolio companies real-world distribution into the built environment.
Sector Focus
Earth Fund organizes its mandate around three core themes:
- Enterprise B2B: asset utilization platforms, construction tech (drone technology, robotics), and property management tools using AI/ML and IoT
- Consumer B2C: renovation tech (AR/VR, AI/ML tools), transaction solutions (AR/VR), and finance/investment platforms (blockchain, AI/ML lending)
- Sustainability: climate tech (green construction, carbon analytics), clean tech (air quality, water conservation, waste management), and energy/HVAC efficiency, clean energy, and smart mobility
Stage Focus
Pre-Series A and Series A. The fund explicitly targets startups with proven market fit rather than pure pre-seed bets, aiming to back 10-15 companies total from the current fund.
Check Size
Reported check size is USD $1M-$2M per investment, consistent with the fund's target of 10-15 portfolio companies from a ~$35M (Rs 300 Cr) corpus.
Fund Size / AUM
Earth Fund's total target corpus is Rs 300 crore (~$35M), structured as an initial Rs 200 crore base plus a Rs 100 crore green-shoe option. As of early reporting, roughly 40% of the corpus had been raised, anchored by Rs 50 crore commitments each from Brigade Group and Gruhas, with additional LP capital from HDFC Capital (Rs 20 Cr, announced December 2025) and Nila Spaces Limited (announced August 2025). Remaining capital is expected from builders, HNIs, and family offices.
Lead Tendency
Earth Fund leads its disclosed rounds. Its first public portfolio deal, a Rs 20 Cr investment in TruBoard Partners (February 2026), was reported as an Earth Fund-led raise.
Recent Activity
- February 2026: Led a Rs 20 Cr (~$2.2M) investment in TruBoard Partners, a real-estate asset monitoring and lending platform founded by ex-Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan executives.
- December 2025: HDFC Capital committed Rs 20 Cr to Earth Fund as an LP, deepening a proptech partnership.
- August 2025: Nila Spaces Limited announced a strategic LP investment in Earth Fund.
- August 2025: Fund publicly launched as a Brigade Group / Gruhas joint venture, targeting a $35M corpus.
Portfolio Highlights
Three portfolio companies are publicly disclosed on Earth Fund's site:
- TruBoard Partners (truboardpartners.com) - tech-enabled asset monitoring and management platform for real estate lenders and investors; monitors a 3GW clean energy portfolio; founded by ex-Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Piramal Group executives.
- Aurm (aurm.in) - automated, high-security safe deposit lockers for gated communities, live in Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Vizag; founded by MyGate founder Vijay Arisetty.
- Wiffy (wiffy.ai) - B2B installation services for modular furniture and consumer durables, with 3,000+ technicians and partnerships including IKEA, HomeLane, Amazon, and Godrej.
Team
- Saras Agarwal, Managing Partner
- Abhay Garg, Head of Fund (also serves as the fund's Nodal Officer)
- Keshav Jain, Senior Vice President
- Dheeraj S, Fund Manager
- Shreya Gupta, Associate
- Sarath P.V, Senior Analyst
- Rahul Joshi, Advisor
Extended leadership and advisory bench draws on both parent organizations and outside experts: Nirupa Shankar (Joint MD, Brigade Enterprises), Abhijeet Pai (President, Puzzolana Machinery; Co-Founder, Gruhas Proptech), Nikhil Kamath (investor/entrepreneur, Gruhas), Mohan Parvatikar (Director & Advisor), M.R. Jaishankar (Executive Chairman, Brigade Group), Anuj Puri (Group Chairman, Anarock), plus additional advisors from HDFC Capital, AWS, and Zephyr Capital.
Decision Process
Earth Fund operates as an institutional AIF backed by two corporate sponsors (Brigade Group and Gruhas) rather than a solo-GP shop, with a dedicated investment team (Head of Fund, SVP, Fund Manager, Associate, Analyst) reporting into a Managing Partner and an advisory board. This structure points to an investment-committee-style process rather than a single decision-maker.
Founder Preferences
Earth Fund favors technical and domain-credible founding teams with proven market fit, evidenced by its first disclosed investment in TruBoard Partners, founded by alumni of Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Piramal Group, and by portfolio company Aurm, founded by a repeat operator (the founder of MyGate).
Geographic Focus
India-focused, headquartered in Bengaluru (World Trade Center, Brigade Gateway), with all disclosed portfolio companies operating in Indian cities (Bangalore, Hyderabad, Vizag).