Campus Fund Earmarks USD 10 Mn for Founders Who Build in India

Campus Fund, a SEBI-registered venture capital fund focused on student and young founders, has launched Build In India, a long-term initiative to back students, recent graduates and college dropouts who choose to build from India. The fund has earmarked up to USD 10 million from its USD 100 million Fund III for first pre-seed cheques into this cohort.

The initiative is open to founders from any university globally, with eligibility based solely on their choice to build from India rather than their educational background, pedigree or nationality. Alongside first-cheque capital, Campus Fund will provide access to its investor network, government connections, technology credits, hiring and strategy support, and follow-on capital.

Campus Fund said the pool of young founders choosing India is expanding. In 2025, 518 startups, or 7.10% of the 7,300 evaluated by the fund, were founded by students from international universities, up from 4.54% in 2024. In 2026 so far, the fund has seen 470 such startups among 4,420 evaluated, representing 10.6% of the pipeline.

The pattern extends across Campus Fund’s own portfolio: five of its last 10 investments went to founders who studied abroad before building in India. Across its full portfolio, 12 companies representing 15 founders were started by entrepreneurs who studied at international universities including Wharton, Harvard, MIT, Stanford and the London School of Economics. Six of these companies have raised over USD 24 million in follow-on capital and created more than 200 jobs, spanning space, climate tech, consumer technology and other frontier sectors, including Sarla Aviation, Raho, GreenGrahi, HydraDB and Serendipity Space.

The fund attributed the shift to six structural factors: a deeper pool of domestic risk capital, geopolitical and visa pressures abroad, AI lowering the cost of building, stronger government support for startups, a maturing exit ecosystem, and a growing bench of experienced Indian tech operators. Campus Fund will also engage with student associations at overseas universities and continue tracking the trend through its annual State of Student Entrepreneurship reports. Applications for Build In India are open on a rolling basis with no deadline.

“We are increasingly seeing young founders choose India as the place to start their companies. Five of our last 10 investments reflect this shift, making it a significant signal for us and that is why we are putting dedicated capital behind this opportunity,” said Richa Bajpai, Founder and CEO, Campus Fund.