Mumbai, May 15th, 2025
Kriscore Capital, a new venture firm focused on early-stage Indian tech startups, has announced the first close of its debut ₹100 Cr fund (with a provision for an additional ₹100 Cr greenshoe). With initial commitments of ₹50 Cr from a curated group of family offices and high net worth individuals, Kriscore plans to partner with 16 – 18 breakout companies that are solving large-scale problems using technology.
The sector-agnostic fund will invest into tech-driven businesses at the pre-seed and seed stages with a bias for exceptional founders building across key trends in India including (1) Blossoming digital consumer story (2) China+1 supply chain opportunities (3) Global export of India’s premium market, (4) Gen AI powered services, and (5) Net zero 2070. Kriscore has already made its first investment into a stealth-mode startup.
“India’s startup ecosystem is exploding, and Indian founders are building generational global businesses. Apart from technical prowess and team strength, enduring entrepreneurship needs an ecosystem of support – including financial expertise, capital firepower, compliance mentorship, and strategic global connectivity to build exceptional businesses. We invest more than capital – we commit our time, expertise, and passion to help founders build something truly groundbreaking.” says Nilesh Balakrishnan, General Partner of Kriscore Capital.
With a unique team that boasts decades of experience across early-stage VC, investment banking, and financial services – Kriscore Capital will provide value-added services that focus on critical but non-operational aspects of the Founder journey that are underserved, but essential to derisking early-stage investments. The fund also has an eminent Advisory Board comprising of Mr. D Sundaram (Lead Independent Director, Infosys Ltd), Mr. Shyam Srinivasan (ex-MD & CEO, Federal Bank Ltd), and Mr. Manish Khetarpal (Founding Partner, WaterBridge Ventures) in addition to a strong partner ecosystem of accomplished senior industry professionals to support its investee companies.
About Kriscore Capital and the Founders
Kriscore Capital is founded by Nilesh Balakrishnan, a Venture Capital investment professional, with over 12 years of experience in the investing and operating roles across the US, Japan and India. Prior to founding Kriscore Capital, Nilesh, an alum of the Georgia Institute of Technology and Duke University, was a Senior Investment professional at WaterBridge Ventures in India.
During his 5+ years at WaterBridge, Nilesh led multiple investments across sectors with excellent outcomes. His significant founder network, relationships across the VC ecosystem, and deep experience in operational roles at startups globally will be invaluable to Kriscore.
Co-founding Kriscore Capital, is K Bala, a veteran Investment Banking professional with over three decades of rich experience in the Investment Banking space in India. K Bala was previously Chairman & CEO of Lazard in India for more than a decade and later became Founder Chairman for Kriscore Financial Advisors, a boutique Investment Banking advisory business. K Bala played a pivotal role in setting up the Investment Banking business for Lazard in India, prior to which he was lead for HSBC’s Investment Banking business in India.
With significant client relationships and domain expertise, K Bala was instrumental is leading several large value M&A and Fund mobilization transactions for international and Indian clients. Having also been an active investor in the startup ecosystem for more than a decade, he will offer tremendous mentorship to the team and drive substantial value.
Disclosure
The fund (“Kriscore Capital I”) is a Scheme of Kriscore Capital Trust – a SEBI registered Category II Alternative Investment Fund. Read more at Kriscore.com.
