Two of India’s best-known consumer internet founders are moving to the other side of the table. Unacademy co-founders Gaurav Munjal and Roman Saini are raising Longshot Capital, a ₹700 crore venture fund dedicated to early-stage artificial intelligence and deeptech startups, according to a report by The Economic Times.

The fund is registered as a Category II Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) and has reportedly secured commitments of roughly ₹250-300 crore so far. It is targeting a first close in January 2027, after which it plans to start writing cheques, though the final size and timeline could still change as fundraising continues.

Seed and pre-Series A bets on AI-led companies

Longshot Capital plans to back 25-28 startups at the seed and pre-Series A stages, with initial cheques of $500,000 to $1.5 million and a target ownership of 8-12% in each company. Its mandate covers AI-led businesses alongside deeptech segments such as manufacturing, space, defence and robotics. Consumer brands and retail businesses are outside its focus.

The fund will deploy capital over about three years and will invest in India-based startups as well as companies built by founders of Indian origin abroad. With a fund life of 10-11 years, it is structured for the longer research, development and commercialisation cycles that deeptech companies typically need.

From angel cheques to an institutional fund

Both co-founders will serve as general partners. Saini will run Longshot Capital full-time, while Munjal will stay involved part-time alongside his role as CEO of Unacademy. Prospective limited partners reportedly include startup founders, family offices and overseas institutions.

The fund formalises more than a decade of angel investing by the duo, who have together written over 200 angel cheques worth more than ₹25 crore in companies such as Pine Labs, Dhan, Seekho, Ultrahuman and Snabbit. Earlier this year they also backed Superleap, an AI-native customer relationship management platform.

The move comes less than two months after upGrad completed its all-stock acquisition of Unacademy on 1 September, and puts Munjal and Saini alongside a growing group of Indian founders, including Snapdeal’s Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal with Titan Capital, who have moved from personal angel investing to managing outside capital.

Why it matters for India’s AI ecosystem

Early-stage capital remains one of the tightest bottlenecks for Indian AI and deeptech founders, who often need several years of patient funding before products reach commercial scale. A dedicated founder-led fund with a clear AI and deeptech thesis adds to the pool of risk capital at the stage where it is scarcest, and signals growing confidence that India can build globally competitive AI-first companies, not just apply AI to consumer internet models.

For enterprise technology leaders, the next wave of AI startups backed by such funds is likely to show up as vendors and partners in areas ranging from industrial automation to defence tech and applied AI platforms.

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