Rootd Ventures

Before you pitch

• Rootd Ventures is a venture investor and takes equity. It is not a grant or an incubator, and it publishes no application window.
• It backs technology companies in the physical economy: manufacturing, automation, industrial software, energy, water and dual-use. A pure software or consumer idea is outside its stated focus.
• Check your fit against its six tests and its list of what it does not invest in, including contract manufacturing and businesses that depend on subsidies or government procurement.

How to reach them

• Use the Pitch to Us form on the Get Started page of the website.
• Prepare answers on the problem, what you build, what makes the technology different, your stage, your team, how much you are raising and what the capital is for.
• The footer lists a general inbox and a phone number for other questions.

What to expect

• The site says you hear back about next steps within two days of filling the form.
• It looks for a technical founder with unusual persistence, a demanding industrial customer and a defensible moat such as IP, qualification or manufacturing.
• Read the essays in The Rootd Journal before you write your answers.

Rootd Ventures is an early-stage venture fund for industrial technology, with offices in Chennai and Bengaluru. It describes itself as backing Indian engineers and operators who build technology for the physical economy, at the pre-seed and seed stages.

Who Rootd Ventures backs

The fund organises its focus around what it calls India's industrial technology stack: advanced manufacturing and precision engineering, machine vision and industrial sensing, robotics and factory automation, industrial software and predictive maintenance, energy and water efficiency, and dual-use and infrastructure security. It looks for companies that can move from prototype to paid pilot, and from pilot to repeatable industrial adoption. Its home page also speaks of early-revenue companies, and its scheme page of pre-seed and seed, so read the stage as early rather than as a fixed line.

What it tests for

Rootd says every company it backs is tested against six conditions: a hard problem, hard technology, a hard customer, a hard moat, a large outcome and a hard-to-replace technical founder. It says that if a company does not need genuine engineering to win, Rootd is probably not the right investor. It also lists what it avoids: businesses that rely solely on commoditised technology, contract manufacturing, subsidy economics, government procurement or short-term market momentum.

How to pitch

This is an investor, not a programme with an application window, so there is no cohort or deadline. The Get Started page carries a Pitch to Us form. It asks about the problem you solve, what you build, your sector, what makes the technology different, your product stage, why your team, how much you are raising, what the capital is for, and why Rootd is the right investor. The site says you will hear back about next steps within two days of filling the form. A general inbox is listed in the footer.

Support after the cheque

Rootd says it provides more than capital: technical diligence, customer validation, commercialisation, strategic hiring, manufacturing partnerships, follow-on fundraising and access to industrial customers and ecosystem partners.

Structure and what it publishes

The scheme page lists Rootd Ventures Fund I as a SEBI-registered Category 1 alternative investment fund, run by Rootd Ventures Private Limited. The site does not state fund size or cheque size, and shows no portfolio yet, so ask the team how a round would fit before you pitch. It publishes essays and notes in The Rootd Journal, which is the clearest view of how the team thinks.