Campus Fund launches $100 million third fund to back student founders

BENGALURU: Campus Fund, a venture capital firm focused on student and dropout-led startups, has announced a $100 million third fund, its largest to date. The fund has completed its first close with more than 50% of the capital already committed and has begun deploying capital with two investments already made.

Founded by Richa Bajpai, Campus Fund is registered as a Sebi Category II AIF and exclusively invests in founders who are in university, have dropped out of college or graduated within the past three years. The firm evaluates over 7,000 startups annually through a network of over 100 student scouts and plans to back up to 60 startups through Fund III over the next four years.

Initial cheque sizes will range from Rs 1 crore to Rs 8 crore, with half the fund reserved for follow-on investments.

Bajpai, who co-founded Goodera, began Campus Fund as a thesis project at London Business School in 2020. “This is a full-circle moment for me,” she said, referencing her own entrepreneurial journey that began during her final year of engineering. “To now back students chasing bold ideas, that’s the most meaningful chapter of my career.”

Campus Fund has previously backed startups such as Digantara (space situational awareness), Sama (online dispute resolution), EtherealX (reusable rockets), and GreenGrahi (insect protein). Many of these have gone on to raise capital from firms such as Peak XV Partners, Accel, Andreessen Horowitz, AlphaWave and DST Global.

The latest fund is backed by a mix of family offices, financial institutions, and individual investors including 360 One. Notable limited partners include Kanwaljit Singh (Fireside Ventures), Bharat Shah (HDFC Bank co-founder), Asha Jadeja Motwani (early Google investor), Jaimin Bhatt (former Kotak Group CFO) and Sameen Farooqui (Deutsche Bank).