Deeptech fund Speciale to launch Rs 1,400 crore Growth Fund II, appoints Vijay Jacob as General Partner

L to R Arjun Rao Founding PartnerVishesh Rajaram Founding and Vijay Jacob

Speciale Invest is preparing to launch its second growth-stage fund with a target corpus of Rs 1,400 crores and has appointed Vijay Jacob as General Partner–Growth, as venture firms move to plug a critical capital gap emerging in India’s deep-tech ecosystem.

The move comes at a time when deeptech startups are attracting increased attention beyond early-stage experimentation, driven by policy support and rising investor interest in capital-intensive technologies.

The Bengaluru-based venture capital firm said on December 18 that it plans to launch Speciale Invest Growth Fund II, targeting a corpus of Rs 1,400 crore by 2026. The fund will invest from Series A onwards, backing deep-tech companies as they move from technical validation to commercial deployment.

“What we’ve learned over eight years is that many deep-tech companies succeed technically, but stall because there isn’t enough growth capital when they need to scale...There is clearly a growth capital problem in deep tech, and my focus is to help build a solution for companies entering that phase," said Vishesh Rajaram, cofounder and Managing Partner at Speciale told Moneycontrol. 

Alongside the fund launch, Speciale Invest said Vijay Jacob will join the firm as General Partner–Growth, where he will lead growth-stage investing.

Jacob brings nearly two decades of experience across private equity, venture capital, and public markets.  He was a founding member at NewQuest Capital Partners, now part of TPG NewQuest, where he led investments, portfolio strategy, and exits across multiple sectors and geographies.

An alumnus of IIT Madras and IIM Bangalore, Jacob has worked closely with management teams to scale operations, professionalise businesses, and navigate complex growth phases, according to the firm.

“In the growth fund, we are not underwriting scientific risk anymore. We are underwriting execution and commercial scale...The lens changes from ‘can this team solve the problem’ to ‘can this company scale, manufacture, sell, and become globally relevant," Said Jacob in an interaction with Moneycontrol. 

Speciale Invest has largely focused on pre-seed and seed-stage investments in deep-tech companies so far.

Its portfolio includes startups in space technology, semiconductors, quantum computing, advanced air mobility, and biosciences. The firm has backed space technology startups such as Agnikul Cosmos, GalaxEye Space, and Inspecity, alongside advanced manufacturing and hardware-focused companies like electric air mobility startup ePlane Company and semiconductor firms Mindgrove Technologies and Morphing Machines.

With Growth Fund II, the firm aims to support companies that have crossed early technology readiness levels and now require larger, longer-duration capital for manufacturing scale-up, regulatory approvals, and go-to-market execution.

India’s deep-tech sector has seen rising activity across semiconductors, space, advanced manufacturing, energy, and biosciences, supported by stronger academic research output and government-led initiatives aimed at commercialising science-led innovation.

The strategy also aligns with the government’s Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) Fund, which targets technologies at Technology Readiness Level 4 and above. The RDI initiative aims to bridge the gap between lab-scale research and commercial products, particularly in capital-intensive sectors, underscoring the need for dedicated growth-stage capital in deep tech.

Speciale Invest said the new fund will invest selectively in companies emerging from India’s research institutions and early-stage ecosystem, as deep-tech transitions from experimentation to scale.

“Deeptech is no longer an experiment in India. It is becoming mainstream...Policy tailwinds like the semiconductor mission, quantum mission, and now RDI are all aligning to support deep-tech companies built out of India," Rajaram said.