Transition VC Research
Investment Thesis
Transition VC bills itself as India's first venture capital fund dedicated exclusively to the energy transition. Founded in 2022 by Raiyaan Shingati and Mohammed Shoeb Ali, the firm backs engineering-led, early-stage companies building the technologies that will power, move, build, and secure India's next energy era. The founding thesis is that India is uniquely positioned to lead a structural shift in how the world generates and consumes energy, and that the biggest opportunities sit in the "missing middle" — companies with proven technical feasibility and early commercial traction that have not yet reached product-market fit. With the launch of Fund II, the firm is broadening from pure energy plays into the wider industrial and deep-tech value chain, including advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, geothermal, and nuclear-adjacent technologies, while continuing to back companies that manufacture in India for global export markets.
Sector Focus
The core portfolio spans:
- Energy storage (batteries, thermal storage)
- Green hydrogen and electrolyzer technology
- Clean/electric mobility and power electronics (motors, drives, converters)
- Industrial decarbonization (waste-heat recovery, heat pumps, carbon capture and utilization)
- Renewable operations and asset management (wind O&M, smart-grid/utility software)
- Data center and electronics hardware
- Regenerative agriculture / carbon markets
- Fund II adds: advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, geothermal, and nuclear-related technologies
Stage Focus
Transition VC invests primarily at Seed and Series A, occasionally stepping in at Pre-Seed or Pre-Series A for exceptional deep-tech teams. The firm explicitly targets the "missing middle" — post-technical-proof, pre-PMF companies — rather than pure R&D or late-growth rounds.
Check Size
Typical investment range is USD $2M–$5M per company (confirmed for Fund II), consistent with observed activity of ~$2.6M average seed rounds and ~$4M–$8.6M average Series A checks. The firm frequently leads or co-leads rounds.
Lead Tendency
Transition VC leads or co-leads the large majority of its disclosed rounds — WorkOnGrid, HYDGEN, Matel Motion's Series A, Intrinsic Foundries, CIMware, and Promethean Energy were all led by the firm, typically alongside smaller strategic or family-office co-investors.
Recent Activity
Fund I (₹700 crore / ~$77M) held its oversubscribed final close in December 2025, nearly doubling its original ₹400 crore target, after backing 17+ startups since 2022. In July 2026 the firm launched Fund II, targeting ₹1,500 crore (~$155M) — more than double Fund I — to write $2M–$5M checks into roughly 20–23 engineering-led hardware and industrial companies over a four-year deployment period. Fund II broadens the sector remit to include semiconductors, nuclear, and geothermal alongside the existing energy-transition focus. As of mid-2026 the firm has made new investments at a steady clip (Intrinsic Foundries in February 2026, WorkOnGrid's Series A in April 2026), suggesting active deployment continues even as Fund II ramps up.
Portfolio Highlights
The portfolio spans 18+ companies across the energy and industrial stack: Emo Energy (immersion-cooled battery packs), Fitsol (carbon accounting SaaS), Protonas (PEM fuel cells), Matel Motion (EV drive systems, later raised a Series B led by UC Impower), Comminent (RF mesh for smart metering), CIMware (composable data-center infrastructure for AI workloads, founded by an ex-Google CloudSimple India lead), Promethean Energy (industrial waste-heat recovery), Dynolt (power conversion for EV/renewables), GreenFi (AI-driven ESG risk analytics), HYDGEN (AEM electrolyzers for green hydrogen), GreenTech MW (wind asset O&M), Intrinsic Foundries (carbon-to-value biomanufacturing), WorkOnGrid (AI-native utility operations platform), Prithu (regenerative-agriculture carbon credits), ZeroDrag (drone flight controllers), Helionis Labs (thermal substrates for electronics), Albatross Energetics (liquid-desiccant industrial cooling), and EarthEn (sCO2 thermal battery storage).
Team
- Raiyaan Shingati — Co-Founder & Managing Partner
- Mohammed Shoeb Ali — Co-Founder & Managing Partner
- Shantanu Chaturvedi — Partner
- Gaurav Patil — VP, Investments
- Manasvi Patel — VP, Marketing and Communications
- Venkata Krishna — VP, Capital Formation
- Yashodhara Bakliwal — VP, Portfolio Investments
- Stenson Sajee — Director, Investor Relations
The firm also maintains a bench of named sector experts and advisors (including Anuj Khanna, Dr. Arvind Parthasarathy, Dr. Ingolf Gröning, and others) who support technical diligence on deep-tech deals.
Decision Process
Investment decisions appear to run through a partnership structure with three managing/general partners plus a dedicated VP-level investment team (Investments, Portfolio Investments, Capital Formation), rather than a solo-GP model. Partner Shantanu Chaturvedi has publicly framed the firm's diligence approach around three factors: technology readiness for commercial adoption, team execution capability, and market timing.
Founder Preferences
Transition VC favors engineering-led founding teams solving hard technical problems in energy and industrial hardware — several portfolio founders come from deep technical or operating backgrounds (e.g., CIMware's founder previously led CloudSimple India, acquired by Google). The firm explicitly seeks founders building for both domestic deployment and global/export manufacturing.
Geographic Focus
Headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, with an overwhelmingly India-focused portfolio (18 of ~20 recent investments); a small number of deals extend to Singapore. Portfolio companies are expanding internationally (Japan, Europe, Middle East, Southeast Asia) as they scale, and Fund II is intended to help portfolio companies manufacture in India for global markets.