Aroa Venture Partners

Pick the right door

• Deep tech with a technical edge (IP, proprietary data, scientific expertise) fits the India Deep Tech Accelerator. The accelerator page says you do not need an IIT or partner-institution link.
• Bootstrapped, under 3 years old, in business in India with no institutional money: look at the New Venture Program.
• Registered in Uttar Pradesh and under 3 years old: SeedUP.
• Experienced founder or senior operator with no company yet, ready to work full time: write to the firm about the Entrepreneur in Residence programme.

How to approach

• Use the contact form, pick "Pitching my startup", and add a link to your deck. Or write to info@aroaventures.com.
• For the accelerator, join the 2027 waitlist on its own site, or write to chicago@aroaventures.com.
• Apply buttons for the New Venture Program and SeedUP are on their programme pages.
• Aroa says it reviews every application for those two programmes.

What they look for

• A clear commercial problem, not research for its own sake.
• A defensible technical edge.
• Ambition to build in India and international markets.
• Focus areas: semiconductors, space, AI infrastructure, energy and climate, advanced materials, life sciences and medtech.
• All investments are subject to due diligence and the fund's approval process, so expect a full review.

Aroa Venture Partners is a deep-tech venture capital firm in Gurgaon, Haryana, with a second office in Singapore. It describes itself as backing India's deep-tech founders from lab to global markets. The firm was founded in 2020, runs two funds, and says it has made more than 40 investments from seed to growth. Its Fund II is a SEBI-registered Category II AIF.

What Aroa invests in

Aroa says it invests in research-led, engineering-intensive companies with a defensible technical edge and a clear commercial problem to solve. It lists six focus areas: semiconductors and electronics, space tech, AI and compute infrastructure, energy and climate, advanced materials and manufacturing, and life sciences and medtech. Its portfolio page shows Fund I as seed to Series D and Fund II as pre-seed to Series C, so the firm backs companies well beyond the first cheque.

How founders approach Aroa

Aroa has a contact form on its website. You choose what the message is about, such as pitching your startup, and share a link to your deck. The firm also lists a general email inbox. Its own advice is that the fastest route in is often one of its seed programmes, so look at those first.

Programmes

The India Deep Tech Accelerator is the flagship, run with the University of Chicago Polsky Center. Up to 30 companies join a week-long in-person boot camp in Delhi, up to 10 finalists are chosen, and they continue into an eight-week online accelerator. The 2027 founder waitlist is open. You do not need to be linked to an IIT or a partner institution to apply.

The New Venture Program is for bootstrapped startups operating in India, under 3 years old, with no prior institutional funding and founders aged 18 or above. The site shows applications open. SeedUP is a seed-stage programme for startups registered in Uttar Pradesh, also under 3 years old, and applications are shown as open. The Entrepreneur in Residence programme is a six-month residency for experienced founders or senior operators who will commit full time, and it starts with a conversation rather than a form.

What you get beyond capital

Aroa describes itself as operationally oriented. It says it helps founders define the buyer, the pricing logic and the first pilot, and works with them on hiring, governance and fundraising. Programme pages also mention mentorship and access to its network of founders, operators and co-investors.

Who runs it

Gaurav Gulati founded the firm and is its Founder and Managing Partner. Nitin Wadhwa and Sekhar Puli are listed as General Partners of Fund II. The team page also lists associates, analysts and senior advisors.

Portfolio

Aroa's portfolio page groups its companies by fund. Fund I includes Pine Labs, CRED, Cars24 and Urban Company. The inaugural 2026 cohort of the Deep Tech Accelerator has ten companies, including Augle.AI, Cerify, Torus Motion and Zodhya Technologies.

Locations

Aroa's Indian office is on Golf Course Road in Gurgaon. Its Singapore entity is at Battery Road. Founders can write to the firm at its general inbox, and the accelerator has its own inbox for questions about that programme.