Zeropearl VC Closes ₹159 crore Fund I after 3.5x Oversubscription, Founder-LPs Provide Majority Backing

Zeropearl VC, a solo GP pre-seed and seed fund founded by veteran investor Bipin Shah, has completed the final close of its first fund at Rs 159 crore (about $18 million), the firm said on Thursday.

The vehicle was oversubscribed more than 3.5 times its ₹80 crore target, with commitments topping ₹280 crore before Shah deliberately capped the corpus to retain selectivity and conviction in deploying capital.

More than half the fund, 52%, came from 31 founder-limited partners, including 18 founders of unicorns and 21 entrepreneurs from IPO-listed or IPO-bound companies, providing not just capital but operational mentorship and network access, the firm said.

The remaining commitments were provided by global funds-of-funds and select family offices. Shah said he capped the fund deliberately to preserve the investment discipline that produced his realised IRR of over 50% across the past decade.

Fast-Decision Model

Positioning Zeropearl as one of India’s larger solo-GP pre-seed vehicles, Shah stressed speed and clarity as differentiators: the fund promises founders a decision within seven days and claims a highly selective acceptance rate of roughly 0.5% of evaluated startups.

Zeropearl has already backed 20 companies from Fund I, seven of which have been publicly disclosed, Gully Labs, Cura Care, Zanskar, Catalogus, Akinna, Supply6 and Tryo, and is evaluating more than 800 pre-seed opportunities each month.

The fund will aim to invest in about 45 startups across sectors, with a focus on early-stage founders in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities and frontier areas such as AI, climate tech and healthtech.

Shah said the goal is for most portfolio companies to secure meaningful follow-on rounds within 12–15 months, building on his track record of helping roughly two-thirds of past investments raise subsequent capital in that timeframe.

Founder-LP Playbook

Aman Gupta, co-founder and CMO of boAt and one of the founder-LPs, praised Shah’s founder-friendly approach and commitment to show up for teams at the earliest, riskiest stages.

Shah credited his time leading the Entrepreneurship Cell at IIT Bombay for shaping his conviction in early-stage founders and said Zeropearl is both “a fresh beginning and a tribute to the founders who dared to take early risks.”

The launch comes amid a broader slowdown in global VC activity but continued momentum in India’s startup ecosystem. Zeropearl’s model, concentrated, fast, founder-oriented and backed by experienced entrepreneurs, is aimed at capitalising on the vibrancy of India’s third-largest startup market and the rising quality of founders outside top metros.

Zeropearl VC is a Gurugram-based solo GP pre-seed and seed fund founded by Bipin Shah, an IIT Bombay alumnus and early-stage investor with more than 14 years of experience and a portfolio that includes companies such as Mamaearth, Credgenics, InVideo and Giva. Fund I closes at Rs 159 crore and will deploy across roughly 45 startups, combining capital with founder mentorship and rapid decisioning.