Infosys Innovation Fund invests in Yali Capital to up deep-tech game plan

BENGALURU: The $500 million Infosys Innovation Fund invested in Bengaluru-based VC fund Yali Capital to expand its reach in India’s burgeoning deep tech ecosystem to cocreate solutions for its customers. "Our objective is to bring the power of the Infosys ecosystem and the innovation ecosystem together; to drive insights that feed into our strategic direction, to seek ideas to invest in deep tech startups , to co-create solutions for our clients by partnering with start-ups, and in the process elevate the innovation quotient," Infosys said in an internal note.

Last year, Yali launched an Rs 810 crore India-focused deep tech fund, including a Rs 310 crore greenshoe option. The fund is co-founded by Ganapathy Subramaniam, former CEO of Cosmic Circuits, and Mathew Cyriac, chairman of Florintree. Yali Capital is a SEBI-approved Category 2 AIF investing in areas such as chip design, robotics, genomics, smart manufacturing, aerospace, AI, and other such sectors with deep tech as its base. It counts Perceptyne and C2i Semiconductors as some of its portfolio firms.Three years ago, Infosys committed $10 million to US-based VC fund The House Fund, with a minority holding not exceeding 20% of the fund size. The House Fund is an early-stage venture capital fund investing in startups founded by University of California, Berkeley's alumni, faculty, and recent graduates.

Infosys also invested Rs 32 crore into venture fund Stellaris Venture Partners. Infosys Innovation Fund's investments include drone startup Ideaforge, UVC Partners in Germany, spacetech startup GalaxEye, and healthcare and life sciences start-up, 4baseCare.