A specialist venture capital fund backing Indian diaspora entrepreneurs has secured a major investment from billionaire businessman Siddharth Shankar, Global Chief Operating Officer of Komerz, who has committed £400,000 to the £8 million fund.
Arya Ventures targets seed-stage startups founded by Indian-origin entrepreneurs in the UK and US, focusing on post-product, post-revenue companies in the technology and AI sectors.
The UK Opportunity
The investment comes as Indian diaspora-owned businesses in the UK generate £36 billion in combined revenues and employ over 174,000 people, highlighting the economic contribution of British Asian entrepreneurs to the UK economy.
The fund’s investment thesis centres on demographic data showing Indian-origin founders have built 72 of the 358 unicorns that emerged in the United States since 2018, collectively valued at over £130 billion. Despite representing just 2.1% of the US population, they have founded 19% of American unicorns.
“Indian-origin founders have demonstrated an extraordinary ability to build category-defining companies,” said Siddharth Shankar, who himself founded the Tails Group. “This fund gives us direct access to that exceptional talent pipeline, and I believe we’re investing at exactly the right moment to capture the next wave of innovation.”
Other notable Indian-origin founders who have built multiple unicorns include Mohit Aron (Nutanix, Cohesity), Jyoti Bansal (AppDynamics, Harness), and Ashutosh Garg (Bloomreach, Eightfold.ai).
Early Portfolio Shows Promise
The fund has already made three investments, all showing significant traction. Avi Vehicles is raising its seed round at a 6x valuation increase with strong investor interest, whilst KnowYourDosh has scaled from £400 to £5,000 in monthly recurring revenue. Prescribe Life is moving to seed stage at a 4x valuation with a doubled team and completed MVP.
Arya Ventures makes initial investments of £160,000–£200,000 in seed-stage companies, with follow-on investments available up to £240,000. The fund targets startups valued between £8 million and £32 million pre-money.
The fund is currently reviewing terms with several startups in its pipeline, including companies backed by Y Combinator and other leading venture capital firms.
Founder Background
Anmol Goel, Founding Partner of Arya Ventures, previously held positions at JP Morgan, KPMG, and MMC. He has scaled 36 startups and raised over £52 million for ventures from pre-seed to Series B.
“Early-stage venture capital success depends on identifying exceptional founders,” said Goel. “Our research shows that 85% of the most highly-educated founders come from the Indian diaspora, and 32% of all Fortune 100 founders are of Indian origin.”
The fund operates with a classical LP/GP structure and plans to make 20 investments across its portfolio, with a typical holding period of 5–7 years.
