India VC veteran Nexus Venture Partners has closed Fund VIII, a new $700 million fund, marking its latest effort to expand early-stage investing across the US and India. The firm, which has operated a cross-border strategy since its founding nearly two decades ago, is positioning its eighth fund following global trends — supporting founders building AI infrastructure, enterprise software, consumer platforms, and fintech at the earliest stages of company formation.
With the new fund, Nexus plans to maintain an even split between the two geographies. Partners familiar with the strategy said the firm typically backs around 30 companies per cycle, with the intent of finding a handful of category leaders able to drive substantial returns. In the US, the firm backs AI model infrastructure, agent frameworks, and developer-oriented AI tools. In India, its investments range from consumer platforms deploying AI in operations to newer infrastructure companies building domestic capabilities for model training and deployment. The fund represents a major boost to early-stage AI innovation by targeting tech like AI infrastructure, model tooling, and developer frameworks in the US, while simultaneously accelerating AI adoption in the Indian market’s consumer and fintech sectors. This dual-market focus helps bridge the gap between advanced AI research and practical, scalable applications in fast-growing emerging markets.
The firm is also seeing early signs of AI reshaping India-focused sectors such as logistics, verification, and financial services. According to partners, the speed of adoption across consumer businesses has accelerated over the last 18 months, with many teams now incorporating automation into customer support, supply-chain decisions, and targeted product development. This adoption can lead to efficiency gains, cost reduction, and improved customer experiences.
To recap, Nexus launched in 2006 by Naren Gupta, Sandeep Singhal, and Suvir Sujan, and currently has its offices in Menlo Park, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. The firm’s portfolio now spans more than 130 companies with over 30 exits, including multiple listings. Its US investments include developer infrastructure, AI model tooling, and open-source software companies that have become widely used in technical organizations. Meanwhile, its India portfolio covers logistics, consumer internet services, financial platforms, and fast-growing digital marketplaces. Several of the firm’s India-backed companies operate in segments shaped by rapid urbanization, maturing payments frameworks, and nationwide mobile connectivity.
Unlike several venture firms that have increased fund sizes during the last two years, Nexus chose to keep its new vehicle at $700 million, mirroring the size of its previous fund. Partners cited the firm’s early-stage strategy—typically inception, seed, and Series A—as a reason to avoid rapid expansion. The firm often starts with initial investments in the low seven figures and continues supporting companies through multiple rounds. Nexus also indicated that the majority of capital in the new fund came from returning limited partners across the US, Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Japan. The firm did not release fund performance figures but said it has generated liquidity through both partial and full exits, including several IPOs in India and the US.
This development comes at a time when the global attention remains fixed on AI infrastructure and models, wheras Nexus is preparing for broader demand in India’s consumer and fintech sectors. The firm is evaluating opportunities in payments, wealth management, lending, and operationally intensive services—segments expected to benefit from regulatory reforms and continued growth in household consumption.
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