Micromax Floats Family Office, Earmarks ₹250 Cr To Back Deeptech Startups

Original equipment manufacturer (OEM) Micromax Informatics has announced the launch of a family office, with a corpus of ₹250 Cr (nearly $26 Mn), to back deeptech startups across India and other global markets.

In a statement, the company said that the family office will invest in Pre-Series A to Series B startups building “differentiated technologies and scalable intellectual property”. It will focus on emerging new-age tech players across sectors such as AI, semiconductors, defence tech, spacetech and robotics. 

Micromax Informatics’ investment head Aakil Garg said that the family office initially plans to dish out average cheques sizes in the range of ₹10 Cr to ₹20 Cr. Our focus will be on identifying founders who are building for scale and where our industry, manufacturing and technology ecosystem can create value well beyond the capital invested, added Garg.

The family office claims to have already begun deploying capital, but did not elaborate on whether it has backed any startups yet. 

“… Through this (family office), we aim to empower founders with the resources, partnerships and industry expertise needed to transform breakthrough ideas into impactful solutions and sustainable businesses,” said Micromax Informatics cofounder Rahul Sharma.

Elaborating on its investment thesis, the family office said that it plans to back companies solving complex engineering and technology challenges with strong commercial potential and the ability to scale globally. Beyond capital, it will also help its portfolio startups accelerate commercialisation, strengthen manufacturing and scale enhance supply chain capabilities.

In a statement, the company also said that the selected founders will also get access to its semiconductor technology network, global partnerships and in-house manufacturing capabilities. Micromax added that the family office will also handhold startups through the product development stage and commercial scale.

Founded in 2000, Micromax initially started as an IT software company before entering the mobile phone market in 2008. It has since diversified into sectors such as electronics manufacturing and semiconductors. 

With this, Micromax has joined the growing list of family offices in India. Traditionally focussed on managing real estate and fixed-income portfolios, local family offices have lately begun aggressively investing in startups. 

The allure has been the growing maturity of the homegrown new-age tech ecosystem and GenZs (inheriting family wealth) eyeing new investment avenues. 

As per Inc42 data, 230+ family offices have backed Indian startups so far. These entities have participated in more than 1,300 funding rounds since 2014, with Mumbai and Delhi NCR accounting for the biggest chunk of these family offices. 

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