IIT Alumni founded Synapses launches $125M fund focused on climate, health tech

Former IFC executive Ruchira Shukla and Karthik Chandrasekar of Sangam Ventures have launched Synapses, a new $125 million (or around Rs 1,000 crore) venture capital fund to invest in climate and health startups. 

The fund seeks to support STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)-based solutions that can tackle the pressing issues of climate change and health challenges. 

According to Ruchira Shukla, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Synapses, the fund would be registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) under Alternate Investment Fund Category -2. Raising the entire corpus is anticipated to take one to two years, she said.

Aiming for Global Impact

Synapses aims to bring significant change through deep domain depth and thesis-driven investing. The fund is particularly focused on identifying path-breaking innovations that can lead to leading global technology businesses. It will invest in 25 startups that are addressing major problems in these segments with tested products.

"The climate tech and HealthTech solutions needed today sit at the intersection of STEM-innovation and agile as well as resilient, future-ready, infrastructure-like solutions that need to be deployed at utility scale. Commercialising innovations at this intersection is hard and requires deep sector immersion. We are taking on this challenge because solving for this complexity is what drives alpha and impact,” said Karthik Chandrasekar, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Synapses.

Aligning with India's Green Goals 

The launch aligns with India's updated Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement, targeting a significant reduction in emissions intensity and a shift towards non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030.

Synapses acknowledges the delicate balance India must maintain between its development goals and sustainability ambitions, stressing the importance of STEM innovations in achieving these targets. 

“Climate change and an increasing disease burden are the defining challenges of our generation. Synapses is built on the belief that science and technology hold the key to solving these challenges at scale not just for India but for the world. We are nurturing a new generation of audacious, path-breaking innovators and helping them build leading global technology businesses to deliver outsized financial returns,” said Ruchira Shukla.

Engaging with Global Innovators

Launched at IIT Delhi’s Research and Innovation Park, Synapses will support startups that offer solutions with global appeal and encourage international collaboration and technology transfers.

With plans to invest in a range of startups from seed to Series B rounds, the fund is focused on accelerating global growth and impact. It aspires to deliver significant returns while fostering global market leaders in the climatetech and healthtech sectors.