Former BharatPe CEO Suhail Sameer-Led OTP Ventures Caps First Fund at INR 500 Cr

More than two years after setting up his early-stage venture capital firm, Suhail Sameer, former chief executive of BharatPe, has confirmed the final close of OTP Ventures’ first fund at INR 500 crore.

The fund surpassed its initial INR 400 crore target following a 17-month fundraising process that began in August 2024.

Sharing details in a LinkedIn update, Sameer said investor commitments had crossed INR 750 crore by January 2026. Despite the excess demand, the firm chose to cap the fund at INR 500 crore, citing “fund size discipline and return considerations.”

According to Sameer, the initial INR 180–200 crore was secured quickly from founders, former colleagues, friends and fellow venture investors. Fundraising then slowed, with multiple institutional investors and family offices declining participation. He noted that some potential backers withdrew after early interest or provided only non-binding commitments.

Fundraising traction improved around August–September 2025 when the corpus reached approximately INR 250 crore. The fund crossed its original INR 400 crore goal by November 2025, and additional commitments continued through the end of the year, eventually pushing pledges beyond INR 750 crore before the firm decided to close at INR 500 crore.

“We eventually chose to only take INR 500 Cr… and ended up having to say no to a few institutions,” Sameer wrote, adding that replacing early supporters with larger cheques “felt a betrayal of the trust they had shown in us.”

The fund’s limited partner base includes about 55 investors. Startup founders contribute roughly 10% of the corpus, with nearly 20 founders participating. OTP Ventures’ general partners have committed about 10–15%, placing them among the largest contributors.

He added that nearly 20 professionals, including operators and CXOs from technology firms and consulting organisations, account for a slightly larger share. Around 10–12 family offices are part of the pool, while three institutional investors complete the LP base.

Founded in 2023 by Sameer along with former Foodpanda India managing director Kunal Suri and Saurabh Vashishtha, OTP Ventures focuses on backing consumer, consumer-tech and fintech startups at the seed and pre-Series A stages.

The firm has invested in companies such as Rupeek, Traya, FableStreet, abcoffee and NatHabit. Its most recent disclosed deal was leading a USD 2 million pre-Series A round in D2C home appliance startup Nester.