Nexus Venture Partners, which has supported unicorns like Unacademy, Postman, and Delhivery, has closed $700 million in a new fund – Nexus Ventures VII – fetching the latest VC firm to raise a large corpus at a time when startup backing has dried up in the face of macroeconomic breezes.

Through the fund, Nexus Venture Partners will participate in India and US-based startups in segments like artificial intelligence (AI), software-as-a-service, FinTech, and commerce.

“The pandemic has enhanced digital adoption worldwide across enterprises and customers. Remote workforces have permitted startups to display by leveraging talent autonomous of geography. Recent AI innovations empower technologies to interrupt every sector faster than ever before”, VC said in the blog.

“With one of the major developer bases in the world, India emerges as a critical invention and talent hub for global companies pouring AI and software uprisings. India is the fastest-growing economy on the planet, with hastening digital feasting powered by best-in-class mobile data networks and progressive payment infrastructure”, VC said.

Founded in 2006 by former entrepreneurs Suvir Sujan, Sandeep Singhal, and Naren Gupta, Nexus Venture Partners was India’s first home-grown venture capital firm to invest in US and Indian startups. With the latest fund, the firm’s total assets under management will reach $2 billion.

Nexus Venture Partners has supported nearly 200 startups in India and the US, with 100 startups in India alone. The VC has six publicly-listed companies on its selection, with Zomato, Delhivery, and MapmyIndia.

Nexus Venture Partners also sums up eight unicorns in its portfolio. So far, it has contributed mainly to Seed and Series A subsidy rounds of startups and has financed enterprise claims and consumer internet corporations.

The launch of Nexus Venture Partners’ new fund comes as several venture capital firms have raised large numbers of India-specific funds, even as funding in the country, now the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem, has plummeted recently. Earlier this week, Moneycontrol reported that PE/VC (private equity and venture capital) investment fell 77% year-over-year in February after hitting a five-year low in January. Nexus Venture Partners’ $700 million is also the second-largest fund raised by an Indian venture capital firm after Sequoia Capital India, which raised $2.85 billion in mid-2022 to invest in startups in India and Southeast Asia.