Longshot Capital Wants to Give Deeptech Something Consumer VC Rarely Does: Time

Gaurav Munjal and Roman Saini have spent more than a decade writing angel cheques. Now the Unacademy cofounders are reportedly turning that investing activity into a full-fledged venture fund built specifically for companies that may need years — not months — to prove their technology.

The duo is raising ₹700 crore for Longshot Capital, a Bengaluru-based Category II alternative investment fund focused on AI and deeptech. The fund has secured commitments of roughly ₹250–300 crore and is targeting its first close in January 2027. Fundraising is still underway, so both the final corpus and timing could change.

Longshot plans to invest in 25–28 startups at the seed and pre-Series A stages. Initial cheques are expected to range from $500,000 to $1.5 million, with the fund targeting ownership of around 8–12%. Its mandate spans AI-led businesses as well as manufacturing, space, defence and robotics, while largely avoiding consumer and retail plays.

The structure is designed around the slower development cycles common in deeptech. Longshot is expected to deploy capital over three years and operate with a 10–11 year fund life, giving portfolio companies more time to move from technical validation to commercial scale. It will back startups in India as well as companies founded by entrepreneurs of Indian origin.

Saini is expected to run Longshot full-time, while Munjal will remain involved part-time alongside his role at Unacademy. Both will serve as general partners. The fund formalises an investment track record that already includes more than ₹25 crore across 200+ angel cheques, including bets on Pine Labs, Dhan, Ultrahuman, Snabbit, Swish, STAGE and Third Wave Coffee.

The timing is notable. Indian AI startups raised $438 million across 28 deals in Q3 2026, while deeptech startups raised $290 million across 28 deals. Longshot’s thesis is that the next opportunity is not simply finding more founders — it is giving technically difficult companies enough capital and enough time to become real businesses.