Warmup Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Warmup Ventures describes its mission as "amplifying tenacious founders, with better and faster capital." It is a founders-led, sector-agnostic, technology-focused micro-VC based in India (associated with Jaipur), founded in mid-2023 by three operator-investors: Sharad Bansal, Rajendra Lora, and Yogesh Chaudhary. Before formalizing the fund, the three founders had made more than 100 combined angel investments over roughly six years, and Warmup Ventures grew directly out of that angel syndicate. The firm's stated philosophy emphasizes "green signals" — observable indicators of founder quality and execution — over pattern-matching on pedigree, and it aims to bridge India's traditional business/family-office capital with its innovation economy by connecting family offices and second-generation entrepreneurs to early-stage technology startups.
Sector Focus
Warmup Ventures is explicitly sector-agnostic at the seed/pre-seed stage, but its actual portfolio and Fund II mandate cluster around a few themes:
- Fintech and payments infrastructure (BankSathi, RocketPay)
- Food & beverage / consumer QSR (Babai Tiffins, Bobabhai)
- E-commerce enablement (Nitro Commerce)
- Healthcare (Foxo Health)
- Climate, sustainability, and deep-tech (GreenStitch, MiniMines battery recycling) — the explicit focus area named for Fund II
- Proptech (Jumbo Homes)
- Gaming/entertainment software (Exiles Interactives)
Fund II (launched December 2024, Rs 300 crore corpus) explicitly names deep-tech, climate, and sustainability as priority areas, a shift from the broader generalist mandate of Fund I.
Stage Focus
Warmup Ventures invests at pre-seed and seed, with a stated preference to be a company's first institutional investor. Fund II plans to deploy across 25-30 early-stage startups, with meaningful reserves held for follow-on rounds in existing portfolio companies.
Check Size
The firm's stated check size is co-investment tickets up to $750K (roughly Rs 5-7 crore per Fund II disclosures), typically alongside other angels, family offices, or micro-VCs rather than as a sole institutional check. In the Babai Tiffins round (closed February 2026), Warmup Ventures put in Rs 6 crore (~$700K) as part of a larger Rs 15.5 crore syndicate alongside CDM Capital, nX Capital Partners, 888VC, IPV, and several notable angels.
Lead Tendency
Mixed. Warmup Ventures says it prefers to be the first institutional check into a company, which functions like a lead role in shaping the round, but its checks are consistently sized and structured as part of a multi-party syndicate rather than a sole-lead position. Treat as "both" with low-to-moderate confidence pending clearer primary-source deal terms.
Recent Activity
- December 2024: Announced Warmup Fund II, a SEBI-registered Category II AIF with a Rs 300 crore (~$36M) corpus, to back 25-30 early-stage startups with emphasis on deep-tech, climate, and sustainability.
- February 2026: Invested Rs 6 crore in Babai Tiffins' Rs 15.5 crore seed round, a Bengaluru-based Andhra-cuisine QSR chain that partly raised via the "Bharat Ke Super Founders" reality show plus Recur Club venture debt.
- Ongoing: Portfolio company Balwaan Krishi (agritech, farmer-focused) went on to raise Rs 40 crore from JM Financial as a follow-on signal of portfolio traction; Bobabhai scaled to 45+ stores; Nitro Commerce grew to 200+ brands on its platform; RocketPay reported 5,000+ merchants.
Fund status: actively deploying (Fund II is newly launched and targeting 25-30 portfolio companies).
Portfolio Highlights
Fund I (vintage August 2023) notable names: Datoms, Nitro Commerce, Balwaan Krishi, GreenStitch, WeVois, Foxo Health, Jumbo Homes, Bobabhai, Tusker, BankSathi, Drink Prime, Ketto, MiniMines, RocketPay, Exiles Interactives, Chakr Innovation.
Fund II (vintage September 2025) notable names: Olee Space, Wippi, Advarisk, Babai Tiffins, CREST.
Third-party trackers (Tracxn) put the total portfolio at roughly 20-22 companies as of mid-2026, with Warmup Ventures making 2-3 new investments per year historically, most concentrated in seed-stage India-based startups (average disclosed round size ~$1.5M).
Team
- Sharad Bansal — Founder & Managing Partner. IIT Delhi alumnus; previously scaled an edtech startup before turning to angel investing and then Warmup Ventures. (LinkedIn)
- Rajendra Lora — Founder & Partner. IIIT Jabalpur alumnus with an operating and investing track record in agritech. (LinkedIn)
- Yogesh Chaudhary — Founder & Partner. Also known for his role in scaling Jaipur Rugs' global business, bringing a family-business/legacy-enterprise lens to the fund's family-office LP relationships. (LinkedIn)
Third-party sources describe a broader team of roughly 9 people including the 4 partners, though the firm's public site surfaces the three co-founders most prominently.
Decision Process
Founders-led partnership structure (three co-founding partners), consistent with a "partnership" decision process rather than a solo GP or formal investment committee. No public disclosure of a separate IC.
Founder Preferences
Warmup Ventures says it looks for "green signals" of high-quality teams — a mix of resilience/tenacity, credible domain expertise, and early execution proof points — over pedigree alone. Its founder trio's own backgrounds (edtech operator, agritech investor, legacy-business scaler) suggest an affinity for founders solving India-specific, often non-Silicon-Valley-shaped problems (deep-tech, climate, agritech, consumer/F&B, fintech for underserved segments).
Geographic Focus
India-focused, with the firm associated with Jaipur and its LP base skewing toward Indian family offices and second-generation entrepreneurs. All disclosed portfolio companies are India-headquartered.