Nexus Venture Partners just closed its eighth $700 million fund with a contrarian twist - splitting focus between hot AI startups and India's expanding digital economy. While other VCs chase AI deals at sky-high valuations, Nexus is betting that diversification beats concentration in today's overheated market.
Nexus Venture Partners is swimming against the current. While venture capital floods into AI startups at record pace, the 20-year-old firm just closed its eighth $700 million fund with a deliberately balanced approach - half for AI, half for India's booming digital economy.
The move puts Nexus at odds with an industry that's become laser-focused on artificial intelligence. AI has soaked up most venture capital raised globally, with many firms abandoning other sectors entirely. But Nexus partners argue this creates dangerous blind spots.
"AI is a huge inflection point, and we are anchoring on that," managing partner Jishnu Bhattacharjee told TechCrunch in an interview. "But we are also seeing that many of these AI innovations are actually getting used to serve the masses better."
That philosophy stems from Nexus's unique cross-border DNA. Since launching in 2006, the Delaware-headquartered firm has operated offices in Menlo Park, Mumbai, and Bengaluru as one integrated team deploying capital from a single fund. It's a structure that's proven prescient as AI adoption accelerates globally but takes different forms in different markets.
Nexus manages $3.2 billion across all its funds and has invested in more than 130 companies, recording over 30 exits including multiple IPOs. The firm's U.S. portfolio spans infrastructure darlings like Postman and Apollo to emerging AI agent startups like Firecrawl. Meanwhile, its India bets include quick-commerce platform Zepto, logistics giant Delhivery, and ride-hailing service Rapido.
The fund size reflects deliberate restraint. Nexus has kept its fund at exactly $700 million since launching Fund VII in 2023, even as other VCs balloon their war chests. "We don't want to raise money for the sake of raising," Bhattacharjee noted, explaining that $700 million fits their early-stage strategy of writing checks from hundreds of thousands to around $1 million.
The India angle isn't just geographic diversification - it's strategic arbitrage. While in many areas, Nexus sees leapfrog opportunities emerging. The country's massive talent pool, expanding digital infrastructure, and demand for localized AI models create unique openings.
