Next Orbit Ventures Fund-I

Next Orbit Ventures Fund-I (NOVF) is a Mumbai-based early- and growth-stage venture capital and multi-asset fund manager founded in 2012, led by Founder and Managing Partner Ajay Jalan — a senior dealmaker widely recognised as an architect of India's investment push into semiconductor manufacturing and the broader Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) ecosystem. The firm oversees roughly $10 billion of targeted investments across five funds; its Second Fund carried a target corpus of $750 million, and the firm has separately announced a $2 billion capital raise focused on India's semiconductor and electronics industries. The thesis is to position India as the world's preferred ESDM destination, forecasting an $810 billion Indian electronics market. NOVF's most visible initiative is leading the International Semiconductor Consortium (ISMC) in a joint venture with Israel's Tower Semiconductor, which signed a Rs 22,900 crore (approximately $3 billion) MoU to establish a greenfield chip-fabrication plant in Mysuru, Karnataka pending Government of India approval. The fund leads rounds and writes checks spanning from $1 million to more than $50 million across hardware and robotics, deep tech, fintech, healthtech, and consumer electronics. The portfolio comprises roughly 18 companies with seven IPOs and one acquisition. Headline names include Thyrocare Technologies, India's first fully automated diagnostic laboratory, acquired by API Holdings for $613 million in June 2021; RBL Bank, dual-listed on BSE and NSE at approximately $1.25 billion market cap; and Infibeam Avenues. The most recent disclosed exit was Mercator Group in December 2024. NOVF's focus on strategic national infrastructure — semiconductors, electronics manufacturing, and diagnostics — distinguishes it from conventional venture funds and gives it direct access to government policy frameworks and industrial-scale capital deployment.