InfoEdge Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
InfoEdge Ventures is an early-stage venture capital fund established in 2019 by Info Edge Ltd. (parent of Naukri.com, 99acres.com) and backed by Temasek. The firm's thesis centers on partnering with passionate entrepreneurs building enduring, tech-enabled businesses in India. Founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani, who built Info Edge into one of India's premier internet companies, encapsulates the firm's philosophy: "The secret of successful early-stage investing is to find entrepreneurs and companies that will succeed anyway - with or without you."
The firm brings 25+ years of operating experience in the Indian regulatory ecosystem, patient capital with long fund cycles supporting companies from seed to pre-IPO, and deep connectivity across India's senior tech leadership network. InfoEdge Ventures positions itself as an empathetic partner for founders in their 0-to-1 journey, offering access to Info Edge Ltd.'s internal departments (legal, finance, HR) alongside capital.
Stage Focus
InfoEdge Ventures primarily invests at Pre-Seed, Seed, and Series A stages, with a strong preference for being the first institutional investor in a company. The fund also participates in follow-on investments in portfolio companies that continue to execute well. Across 103+ investments, 66 were made at Seed stage, 17 at Series A, and 4 at Series B, reflecting a clear early-stage orientation.
Check Size
- Typical range: $300,000 to $5 million
- The firm is flexible and has made investments both below and above this bracket depending on founder requirements and company stage
- Total fund size across three funds: $475M
Lead Tendency
InfoEdge Ventures typically leads or co-leads early-stage rounds, acting as the first institutional investor. In later follow-on rounds, it participates alongside other investors.
Recent Activity
InfoEdge Ventures is actively deploying capital. In 2025, the firm made 30 investments (15 new, 15 follow-on) — its most active year. As of mid-2026, it has made 12 investments including:
- June 2026: Lumiq, Series B (data and analytics, co-invested with Bajaj Finserv)
- May 2026: ANSCER Robotics, Series A (co-invested with Indian Angel Network)
- May 2026: Rusk Media, Series B (digital entertainment, ~$12M round led by Nazara)
- May 2026: Jurisphere, Seed ($2.2M legal AI startup)
- April 2026: GobbleCube, Series A (co-invested with SIG Venture Capital)
Fund III (IE Venture Investment Fund III / Karkardooma Trust, INR 1,000 crore / ~$120M) received overwhelming shareholder approval in May 2025 with 99.9995% of votes in favour. In February 2026, the firm also launched B8 Fund I — a new growth-stage fund with Rs 250 crore commitment — to support scaling portfolio companies.
Portfolio Highlights
InfoEdge Ventures has invested in 103+ companies across India, with 2 unicorns, 3 IPOs, and 6 acquisitions:
Notable Exits:
- Zomato — IPO July 2021 (initial Seed investment in 2010; first major conviction bet)
- Policybazaar — unicorn, late-stage (insurance marketplace)
- BlueStone — IPO August 2025 on BSE/NSE (online jewellery, market cap ~$897M at listing)
- Ixigo — IPO June 2024 on BSE/NSE (travel booking platform, market cap ~$432M at listing)
- Shiprocket — unicorn (e-commerce logistics, Series E)
- ShopKirana — acquired by Udaan (B2B grocery, July 2025)
- Gramophone — acquired by Unnati (agritech, January 2026)
Active Portfolio Highlights:
- Adda247 (EdTech, competitive exam prep)
- Aftershoot (AI photo culling and editing tool)
- Airblack (beauty & creative skills platform)
- ANSCER Robotics (autonomous mobile robots)
- AppSentinels (API security)
- Attentive.ai (manufacturing AI)
- Bijnis (B2B footwear marketplace)
- Lumiq (data and analytics for financial services)
- TrueMeds (online pharmacy / generic medicines)
- Zingbus (intercity bus travel)
- Rusk Media (digital entertainment / short-form content)
- Jurisphere (legal AI)
Team
- Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Founder, Info Edge — Serial entrepreneur, built Info Edge (Naukri.com, 99acres.com, Jeevansaathi.com) into a public company; early backer of Zomato and Policybazaar
- Kitty Agarwal, Partner — Core investment team member
- Chinmaya Sharma, Partner — Core investment team member
- Amit Behl, Partner (Capital 2B) — Leads the deeptech and growth-stage Capital 2B fund
- Ankit Garg, Principal — Investment team
- Rishabh Katiyar, Principal — Investment team
- Kavya Tandon, VP — Investment team
- Sahil Dhingra, VP — Investment team
- Sanika Bhalekar, AVP — Investment team
- Nitin Gupta, CFO — Operations lead
Decision Process
InfoEdge Ventures operates as a partnership with multiple investment professionals. Given the team size (22 members, 4 partners) and structure, investment decisions involve partnership consensus rather than a single decision-maker. The firm emphasizes empathetic, founder-friendly processes.
Founder Preferences
InfoEdge Ventures backs entrepreneurs who are passionate about solving a specific problem and demonstrate the ability to build an enduring business. Key evaluation parameters include:
- Strength and passion of the founding team
- Potential business model and market opportunity
- Competitive landscape and scalability
- Ability to generate returns for investors
- Tech-enabled or tech-first approach to the problem
The firm values founders building for the long term and often co-invests with founders they've backed previously.
Geographic Focus
Primarily India (89 of 95 tracked first-round investments). The firm has made selective investments in US (3), Singapore (2), and Switzerland (1) — typically for Indian-founded companies with global ambitions or India-market exposure.
Fund Structure
- Fund I: IE Venture Fund I + IE Venture Fund Follow-on I (SEBI IN/AIF2/19-20/0761)
- Fund II: InfoEdge Capital / IE Venture Investment Fund II (SEBI IN/AIF2/22-23/1043)
- Fund III: IE Venture Investment Fund III / Karkardooma Trust (SEBI IN/AIF2/24-25/1712) — INR 1,000 crore, approved May 2025
- Capital 2B: Deeptech-focused growth fund led by Amit Behl
- B8 Fund I: New growth-stage fund, Rs 250 crore, launched February 2026
All funds managed by Smartweb Internet Services Limited (fund manager) and registered as Category II AIFs under SEBI.
The InfoEdge Advantage
The firm differentiates on several dimensions beyond capital:
- 25+ years of experience navigating the Indian regulatory ecosystem
- Patient, long-duration capital with support through pre-IPO stage
- Entrepreneurial mindset from founders-turned-investors
- Direct connects to senior leaders across Indian tech
- Access to Info Edge Ltd.'s internal departments (legal, HR, finance)
- Strong follow-on commitment to well-executing portfolio companies
- Total portfolio value as of March 2026: ~₹41,300 crore (8.4x gross multiple)