Nexus Venture Partners has closed its eighth fund, raising $700 million to back early-stage startups across India and the US, with a focus on artificial intelligence, enterprise software, consumer tech, and fintech. The fund, one of the largest VC raises this year, represents a continuation of Nexus’s strategy of supporting seed and Series A companies while expanding its footprint in US-only AI ventures.
Co-founder Suvir Sujan explained that the firm will continue backing Indian software startups but will now deploy capital to US AI and enterprise companies where it has domain expertise. “We understand open source and the AI stack. This fund allows us to play on the front foot in the US while maintaining our India-focused investments,” he said.
Founded in 2006 by the late Naren Gupta, Sujan, and Sandeep Singhal, Nexus has been an early backer of companies including Zepto, Rapido, and Postman. The firm has returned around $700 million in cash to limited partners over the past few years, generating total liquidity of $1.5–2 billion through exits such as Delhivery, PubMatic, Cloud.com, Mezi, and Gluster.
Nexus expects four to five IPOs from its portfolio in the next two to three years, with early bets like Zepto planning to go public soon. Sujan noted that a few large winners could drive outsized returns even if only a handful of companies scale to $3–5 billion valuations, where Nexus holds 15–20% stakes.
The fund will also continue supporting operationally intensive consumer startups, including Rapido, Zepto, and Snabbit. Sujan highlighted Snabbit’s focus on delivering reliable home-cleaning services, aiming to scale into adjacent categories, echoing the trajectory of other successful ventures in the portfolio.
With cross-border enterprise and AI startups attracting attention globally, Nexus is positioning itself to capitalize on emerging opportunities while reinforcing its commitment to Indian software innovation.
