Synapses

Co-founders Ruchira Shukla and Sarthak Misra share investment committee authority by joint agreement, per the firm's structure. Shukla oversees financial services, health, and sustainability deals, while Misra leads enterprise and deep-tech sourcing. Both bring prior institutional venture experience — Shukla from IFC and Misra from Reliance Industries' corporate VC arm.

The firm maps India's national laboratory and IIT ecosystems through embedded scouts who identify patent-protected research with commercial potential. This institutional line of sight is rare among generalist Indian seed funds and reflects the founders' backgrounds at the intersection of policy and technology transfer. Synapses also draws on World Economic Forum networks and development-finance institution referral pipelines.

Synapses invests directly, typically leading or co-leading seed and Series A rounds. It does not operate as a fund-of-funds. When syndication is required, the firm co-invests alongside academic spin-out funds and development finance institutions rather than commercial generalist VCs.

Seed through Series A, with select follow-on participation into Series B underwritten by a dedicated reserves allocation. The firm targets first institutional check size for companies emanating from Indian research institutions, with initial cheques typically ranging from INR 2 crore to INR 10 crore in seed rounds.

Synapses has publicly signaled avoidance of consumer internet, quick commerce, and purely aggregator-based marketplace models — segments it views as already saturated by large domestic venture platforms. It also does not invest in cryptocurrency or blockchain infrastructure, per its deep-tech and climate-centric mandate.

Synapses does not operate a philanthropic foundation, though the founders have individual affiliations with non-profit innovation councils. The firm's venture-building track with academic founders is structured as commercial co-founding arrangements, not grant-based philanthropy, keeping mission-aligned and for-profit activities legally distinct.

Synapses actively co-invests with development finance institutions and academic spin-out funds. It has also participated in syndicates with climate-focused investors. The firm does not operate a formal co-investor club or LP network, preferring deal-by-deal partner selection based on sector expertise rather than shared fund economics.