Mumbai, 22nd Oct 2026: Deep Tech venture capital firm Unicorn India Ventures today announced the launch of its US operations under the leadership of former Google executive Kishore Kanakamedala, who joins the fund as a Venture Partner. Kishore
will become an integral part of our investment team. He will bring a rich experience and a global perspective to investing in and growing Indian deep tech companies. He will build a team of mid to senior professionals with a focus on developing ecosystems in the US that would benefit the portcos expand there. He will also evangelise the Indian deep tech growth story and build an investor base in the US.
Commenting on the appointment, Bhaskar Maumdar, Founder Managing Partner, Unicorn India Ventures, said, “Since we closed our third fund of Rs 1200 crore earlier this year, the US operations launch has been our next obvious step as during the capital raise of this fund, we saw the investors across the US showing significant interest to invest in Indian deep tech startups. With the record speed at which we hit the first close of the IITM Unicorn Frontier Fund I, getting a seasoned executive like Kishore was the path forward. I have known Kishore for several years and he has earlier been an investor in Unicorn Funds. I am super excited to have him join the Unicorn family.”
The US operations launch is a strategic expansion move for Unicorn India Ventures to build an active co-investment ecosystem and stay close to ground zero of latest tech innovation globally. This is being done to help its deep tech founders accelerate their scale up and TRL journey.
Kishore Kanakamedala, Venture Partner, Unicorn India Ventures, said, “I have been observing the growth of UIV for a few years and interestingly, I was in retirement during part of this time but this opportunity was hard to pass up as the time to invest in deep tech in India is now more than ever. Finally, we are seeing product based companies being built out of India, govt taking a lead with a proactive and supportive policy environment and by turning into a buyer where appropriate, risk capital becoming accessible, these are all signs that India is already emerging as a deep tech hub with its frugal innovation approach. As a Venture Partner, my mandate is clear – invest in builders solving hugely impactful deep tech problems, help our portfolio companies enter in the US, build the investor base, and also be the fountainhead of the developments taking place in US and globally to enable steep knowledge growth of the enterprising investment team based in India.”
About Unicorn India Ventures
Unicorn India Ventures (UIV) is an early-stage venture capital firm based in Mumbai that invests in Indian deeptech companies building products from strong intellectual property with typical cheque sizes of ₹10 – 25 Crore.
UIV manages approximately $350 million across its funds and has backed 54 companies in semiconductors, space, defence, health, robotics, and agritech.
Its portfolio includes companies like Open Bank, Olyv, TakeMe2Space, Orbitaid, Nava, Satleo Labs, Netrasemi, Vervesemi, EyeROV, Genrobotics and more. In 2026, UIV launched the IITM Unicorn Frontier Fund I, a ₹1,000 crore SEBI-registered AIF set up in strategic partnership with IIT Madras and IITM Research Park. The fund reached a first close of ₹450 crore within three months of SEBI approval. UIV was founded in 2016 by Anil Joshi and Bhaskar Majumdar.
