a99 VC

India's manufacturing PMI has outpaced the US for years. AI capex is now a global phenomenon and the world's most disciplined private capital isn't betting on the software layer, it's pouring into power, cooling and grid gear. India's data centre buildout is running into the same physical supply constraints as the US. This piece by Vignesh Shankar connects dots we've been drawing at a99 VC for a while. A must read if you're thinking about where physical AI infrastructure plays out in India. Link to the article - https://lnkd.in/gZc6a9RD #Manufacturing #AIInfrastructure #VC #a99 #Datacentercapex

Ganesh Sathyamurthy, Partner at a99 VC, was part of a panel discussion at the 2nd Edition of the MahaMSMErashtra Empowerment Summit 2026, organized by the ASSOCHAM (The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India) Maharashtra State Council. The summit brought together policymakers, industry leaders, entrepreneurs, financial institutions, and investors to discuss the future of India's MSME ecosystem across manufacturing, innovation, exports, technology adoption, and access to capital. The discussion highlighted the opportunities and challenges facing MSMEs as they scale, innovate, and build globally competitive businesses from India. Thank you to ASSOCHAM and fellow panelists for an engaging exchange of perspectives on powering India's next wave of manufacturing, innovation, and exports. #MSME #Manufacturing #Innovation #Exports #VentureCapital #StartupEcosystem #IndiaGrowth

Excited to announce our investment in InterCosmos, a Chennai-based space propulsion startup building a safer, high-performance alternative to hydrazine. As India's space ecosystem scales, critical technologies like propulsion must be developed domestically by teams that understand both the science and the customer. We believe InterCosmos is one of those teams. Thank you to Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala and ITEL Foundation for their continued support. 🚀 Onward to orbit. #a99VC #InterCosmos #SpaceTech #DeepTech #IndianSpace #VentureCapital #NewSpace #StartupIndia #HardTech #BuildInIndia Vignesh Shankar | Ganesh Sathyamurthy | Asha Venugopal | Anirudh Gopinath | Prem Shanth | Khushi Bothra | Balaji Sathyanarayanan | Varsha Shivaraj | Harini G A

India’s manufacturing sector is entering a defining decade of growth. Driven by Make in India, China+1, supply chain diversification, and increasing domestic demand, we’re seeing a new generation of manufacturing companies emerge with the potential to become category leaders. Join us this Friday as our Founder & Managing Partner, Vignesh Shankar Shankar, shares perspectives on: • Key manufacturing trends shaping the next decade • Sectors attracting investor interest • How VCs identify future market leaders • Why early-stage investing creates outsized value Looking forward to an engaging discussion with the PMS Bazaar community. #Manufacturing #IndiaGrowthStory #EarlyStageInvesting #MakeInIndia #ChinaPlusOne #IndustrialTech #a99vc

At a99 Foundry, Vignesh Shankar, made the case for why we back enablers over themes. ₹20 lakh crore is flowing from the government into semiconductors, solar, shipbuilding, nuclear. Everyone's chasing the big sectors. We're backing the smaller wheels that make those big wheels turn. Sometimes the better bet isn't the gold. It's the shovel. #a99Foundry #Manufacturing #IndiaVC #a99VC

𝗣𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗼 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝟵𝟵 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝘆 In collaboration with DBS Bank India, we brought together some of our most exciting portfolio companies to present their cutting edge work. Here's a glimpse of who took the stage: Aditya Avartan Technologies Private Limited: Patented Switched Reluctance Motors and Controllers with zero rare earth magnets - from consumer goods to mobility TierX Data Center Solutions: Building next generation data center infrastructure for the hyperscale and AI infrastructure era. Intangles: AI and digital twin powered fleet intelligence platform for predictive maintenance EzeRx: Non invasive, portable medical diagnostic devices delivering results in under 60 seconds optoML: Analog in memory compute AI chips with optical interconnects, delivering higher energy efficiency than conventional digital accelerators for edge to hyperscale deployments Rapid Acceleration Partners: Enterprise AI orchestration platform that runs complex multi step operations across manufacturing and distribution workflows Raptee.HV: India's first high voltage electric motorcycle using 240v architecture #a99 #DBSBankIndia #PortfolioSpotlight #DeepTech #Manufacturing #MakeInIndia

On 24th April, 2026, Vignesh Shankar, Managing Partner at a99 VC, opened our first industry event, a99 Foundry, hosted alongside DBS Bank India. He covered three things. 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 Manufacturing and infrastructure have always been considered boring, straightforward, unglamorous. There are world class events for fintech, AI, semiconductors. For 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 in India, there is almost nothing. 𝗮𝟵𝟵 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝘆 was an attempt to change that. To put a spotlight on the segment and build a platform where the right conversations can happen between founders, operators and capital. 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 India built $4.5 trillion in GDP largely on IT. Getting to $20-25 trillion by 2047 needs a different engine. Piyush Goyal put it plainly at a closed-door CII meeting: if the industrial sector delivers 10% accelerated CAGR over 10 years, that alone adds $4-8 trillion to the economy. The opportunity is large and the government is aligned. What is missing is patient, informed capital that understands the space. 𝗔𝘁 𝗮𝟵𝟵, 𝘄𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀:  • 𝗜𝗣 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗥&𝗗 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴, where businesses own the engineering and earn 25-30% gross margins rather than the 8-10% that build-to-print gets you  • 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 enabling the layer behind large government capex, the ₹20 lakh crore going into semiconductors, solar, shipbuilding and nuclear needs suppliers, components and tooling businesses to make it work  • 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗽 𝗳𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, which is no longer optional for any manufacturer with an MNC customer or export ambitions  • 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗵𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗜, data centres, cooling, interconnects and on-chip thermal, where the real compute constraint actually lives 𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗝𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆 a99 started in 2021. The early instinct was to do tech. That did not last long. 10-12 good tech deals, 150 investors chasing them and a team that came from operating businesses, not Silicon Valley. The pivot to manufacturing was obvious in hindsight. Three funds later, the conviction has only grown. The team backs businesses not just with capital but with operator experience, which is where the real value add has come from. Thank you to everyone who joined us and to DBS Bank India for partnering on a99 Foundry. #a99 #a99Foundry #DBSBank #Manufacturing #IndustrialTech #MakeInIndia #VentureCapital

Big news from the a99 family. 🎉 Asha Venugopal has been promoted to Partner at a99 VC. Asha has been with us since the very beginning: since the first cheques, the first conviction calls, the first bets on Indian manufacturing when not everyone was paying attention. She came in with 20+ years of experience across investment banking and consulting, someone who has spent years stress testing businesses, reading between the lines of a P&L and backing conviction. She knows the difference between a business that looks good on paper and one that can actually be built. That rare combination of investing rigour and on the ground execution instinct? That's just Asha. Beyond the deals, Asha has been deeply hands on with our portfolio, rolling up her sleeves with founders to help them with execution and not just capital. She has also been one of the most important people in shaping our young team, mentoring the next generation of investors at a99 and raising the bar for what good looks like. Our founders trust her instincts. Vignesh will tell you she's the boss. We won't argue. We announced this at Foundry, our closed door event with DBS Bank and it felt like exactly the right moment. Because Foundry is about backing builders and Asha is one of ours. Fund III just got stronger. Watch this space. Welcome to the partnership, Asha. This one's been a long time coming. #a99 #Foundry #TeamNews #VentureCapital #IndiaManufacturing #FundIII

On 24th April 2026, we hosted the inaugural edition of 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝘆, a first of its kind manufacturing focused event, in Chennai. Foundry was designed as a thoughtful forum to share our experiences, perspectives and learnings from the past few years, while also learning from industry leaders and stakeholders across the ecosystem. Much of our work has been undertaken behind the scenes, with a consistent focus on building domain knowledge and long term value creation. This platform allowed us to bring those insights into the open, while also showcasing our portfolio companies that are driving cutting edge innovation in the manufacturing space, and contribute more meaningfully to the evolving conversation around building and investing in India’s manufacturing ecosystem. We were pleased to partner with DBS Bank on 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝘆, whose support under their FoundED platform was instrumental in bringing the event together. The evening saw more than 2x the planned turnout. For us, that is validation of our focus and conviction in India's manufacturing story. It also reflected something larger: that India's private capital is slowly but surely embracing manufacturing as a serious segment across R&D, shovels and Industry 5.0. The agenda brought it all together:  • Keynote by Vignesh Shankar, Founder and Managing Partner, a99 VC, setting the thesis and the context for Foundry  • Panel discussion "Capital meets Shopfloor" a rich conversation with N Kumar (Chairman, Sanmar Group), Ganesh KC (President, Pratithi Investments) and DIVYESH DALAL (MD and Country Head, DBS Bank India), moderated by Vignesh Shankar  • Portfolio Founders Spotlight, with some of our companies: EzeRx, Aditya Avartan Technologies Private Limited, Intangles, optoML, Raptee.HV, Rapid Acceleration Partners, TierX Data Center Solutions showcasing the innovation they are building on the ground For us, the greatest joy was doing all of this together with those who matter most to us. With capital allocation, policy tailwinds, geopolitics and a maturing ecosystem all converging, at a99 we believe we are just getting started. Foundry gave us the perfect platform to say it aloud. #a99VC #Foundry #FoundED #Manufacturing #VentureCapital #Innovation