New Delhi, Jan. 21 -- Venture capital firm Speciale Invest has promoted Vishnu Rajeev to investment partner to strengthen its senior leadership as it expands capital deployment across early- and growth-stage deep-tech companies.
The elevation comes as Speciale actively invests from its third pre-seed fund, closed in 2025, and prepares to raise its second growth-stage fund in 2026.
Speciale Invest also recently appointed Vijay Jacob as general partner to lead its growth-stage strategy and Krishnaswamy Srinivasan as general partner and chief financial officer to oversee finance, governance and institutional scale-up.
Rajeev has been part of Speciale Invest's investment team for several years and has worked closely with founders across sectors, including advanced manufacturing, space technology, climate and energy, health and biosciences, and AI-led platforms, the VC firm said in a statement. His responsibilities have spanned early-stage diligence, thesis development, and hands-on support for portfolio companies on strategy, governance, and follow-on fundraising.
Prior to joining Speciale, Rajeev worked across venture capital, strategy consulting, policy research, and early-stage entrepreneurship, with a focus on deep technology and climate-linked innovation. He holds degrees from IIT Kharagpur, Harvard Kennedy School, and the University of Oxford.
Founded in 2017 by Vishesh Rajaram and Arjun Rao, Speciale Invest backs deep-science and deep-technology companies emerging from academic research and breakthrough engineering. With offices in Chennai and Bengaluru, the firm works closely with research institutions and industry partners, and is now preparing to deepen its presence at the growth stage as Indian deep-tech startups move from technology validation to global commercialisation.
Speciale Invest closed its third flagship early-stage fund in August last year after surpassing its initial target. It had earlier launched its first growth fund to support breakout companies from its debut portfolio. The growth vehicle was launched with a target corpus of Rs 200 crore, achieved an initial close of Rs 100 crore in April 2023, and raised Rs 185 crore from limited partners by FY24.
The VC firm's portfolio includes Ultraviolette, Agnikul Cosmos, ePlane Company, Cynlr, Qnu Labs, Galaxeye Space, Uravu Labs, NewTrace, e-TRNL Energy, Wingman, StreamAlive, Airboxr, Trainn, among others.
Pantomath Capital
Mumbai-headquartered Pantomath Capital Advisors, the investment banking arm of the Pantomath Group, has appointed Mitul Shah as managing director for coverage and equity capital markets sales within its investment banking division, as the firm scales its institutional franchise.
Shah will focus on expanding institutional investor coverage, enhancing ECM sales capabilities, and deepening engagement between issuers and investors, in line with Pantomath's longer-term investment banking growth strategy.
Shah brings more than 25 years of experience spanning sell-side equity research, investor engagement, and manufacturing engineering.
Prior to joining Pantomath Capital Advisors, he was an executive director at DAM Capital, where he led research coverage of the automobile and auto ancillary sectors and worked closely with domestic and global institutional investors.
Over his career, he has held senior roles at Reliance Securities, Quant Broking, Karvy Stock Broking, and First Global Securities.
Pantomath Capital is a merchant banker that advises companies on IPOs, institutional share sales, private placements and M&A transactions. The firm works primarily with mid-market clients across sectors, combining in-house research with capital markets and regulatory expertise.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.