Incubate Fund Asia

There is no application window

• The fund publishes no cohort, deadline or eligibility checklist. You pitch it as an investor rather than apply to a programme.
• The way in is the Let's Connect form on its contact page. It asks for your name, e-mail, phone number, LinkedIn profile and sector, plus a description of your idea. You can attach one document.
• No contact e-mail address is published.

What the fund says it looks for

• Pre-seed and seed-stage startups in India and Southeast Asia, across sectors.
• Founders building for tier 2 cities and beyond, and enablers for small and medium-sized businesses (Fund III).
• Deep tech and space tech, which it says it will start investing in from Fund III.
• For the SMBC Asia Rising Fund: startups in finance-related areas that can work with the SMBC Group.

How the process runs

• Initial meetings, then a pitch deck review.
• A team reference check.
• A number evaluation.
• An investment committee meeting.

Before you reach out

• Have your deck ready, since it is the second step.
• Be ready to share references for your team.
• Pick the sector that fits best on the form, and say in the idea description why this fund suits you.

Incubate Fund Asia is a venture fund that backs pre-seed and seed-stage startups in India and Southeast Asia. It is the Asian arm of Incubate Fund, a seed-focused venture firm from Japan that says it has invested in over 700 startups. The fund launched in 2016 and lists India offices in Mumbai and Bengaluru, alongside offices in Tokyo, Singapore, San Francisco and Sao Paulo.

What it invests in

The fund says it invests at seed stage as a lead investor and wants to be the first believer in a founder. Its site calls it sector agnostic and lists real estate, automobile, healthtech, fintech, retail, manufacturing, energy, agriculture, biotechnology, edtech and media as areas it works in. It has run several funds. Fund I and Fund II were India funds, with Fund II widening to a more diverse set of pre-seed and seed startups. Fund III covers India and Southeast Asia, with a stronger focus on startups building for tier 2 cities and beyond and on enablers for small and medium-sized enterprises. It also says it will start investing in deep tech and space tech from Fund III. A separate SMBC Asia Rising Fund, also for India and Southeast Asia, looks for startups that can grow the business of the SMBC Group through collaboration in finance, such as lending tech, payments, supply chain finance, banking-as-a-service, AI and digital assets.

How to pitch

The site publishes a five-step process: initial meetings, a pitch deck review, a team reference check, a number evaluation and an investment committee meeting. There is no application window or deadline. To start, use the Let's Connect form on the contact page. It asks for your name, e-mail, phone number, LinkedIn profile and sector, and has a box for a short description of your idea, with an optional document upload. No contact e-mail address is published.

Support after the investment

Beyond the cheque, the fund describes networking across geographies, mentorship and expert guidance, support in future funding rounds, and a portfolio community where founders meet, mentor and learn from each other. It also runs investor meetups. Its Japan network is a stated strength, including links to later-stage investors in Japan.

Portfolio and updates

The portfolio page names companies such as Captain Fresh, Yulu, Plum, Shopkirana, Drip Capital, Fairdeal.market and M2P. Its resources page collects press coverage of portfolio companies and publishes quarterly highlights newsletters.

Offices

The contact page lists a Mumbai office at COWRKS Powai, Prudential Hiranandani Gardens, and a Bengaluru office at WeWork Embassy Quest, Magrath Road, Ashok Nagar. It also lists a Singapore office at Suntec Tower Five.