TDV Partners

What TDV Partners does

TDV Partners is an India-focused early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2021 by Ujwal Sutaria, headquartered in Bengaluru with offices referenced in Hyderabad. The firm operates a single general partner structure under Sutaria and invests at the pre-seed to seed stage, typically writing the first institutional cheque before product-market fit and even before a product exists, with cheque sizes ranging from USD 50,000 to USD 500,000 (₹50 lakh to ₹2 crore) and valuation caps up to ₹40 crore. TDV Partners concentrates on three consumer-oriented themes: consumer tech, consumer AI, and consumer upgrade, targeting Indian founders building products for everyday consumer needs, AI-enabled 10x productivity tools, and products aligned with rising Indian aspirations.

The firm's core offering is investment capital paired with hands-on operational support across product strategy, initial customer acquisition, early hiring, and follow-on fundraising. Its revenue model follows the standard VC economics of management fees on committed capital and carried interest on exits over a typical 7-10 year horizon. TDV Partners has invested in 40+ portfolio companies since inception, including Kindlife (K-beauty marketplace), Aftershoot (AI photography), Hypergro (AI content), HireQuotient (AI hiring), TradeX (investment platform), Eternz (jewelry marketplace), Sports For Life (sports tech), Flexprice (AI billing infrastructure), Kovon (cross-border workforce mobility), and Acai Theory (healthy QSR), with the firm claiming 8 portfolio companies have reached INR 100 crore+ in revenue. The team is intentionally lean — comprising Founder & GP Ujwal Sutaria, Investor Kunal Juneja, and an AI Analyst (MOX) — but is augmented by a bench of 20+ venture partners drawn from Indian unicorn founders and senior executives (Swiggy, NoBroker, Rapido, BharatPe, Livspace, Zomato, Innovacer, IndiaMart, Turing, Mastercard, Microsoft, Salesforce, Coinbase, Netflix).

The firm raised and fully deployed Fund I (40+ investments), then launched Fund II of Rs 50 crore in 2025-2026 with an explicit target of 10 investments by end of FY26 and 10-12 in FY27 at the $500K-$1M range. Distribution and deal flow are sourced through founder network referrals, portfolio introductions, a Substack newsletter, and direct pitch submissions rather than traditional marketing. Differentiation rests on the single-GP speed advantage (decisions within 24 hours to 2 weeks) and the operational leverage provided by the venture partner network.

Name

TDV Partners

Legal name

TDV Partners

Website

https://tdv.partners

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

TDV Partners is an India-focused early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2021 that writes first-institutional cheques of USD 50K-500K at pre-seed/seed into consumer tech, consumer AI, and consumer-upgrade startups, with 40+ portfolio companies and a Rs 50 crore Fund II deployed through founder-network-led deal flow.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Early-Stage Venture Capital

NAICS

Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles (525), Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Venture Debt Providers (FSANAAAL)

Keywords

• Early-stage venture capital
• Pre-seed startup investing
• Consumer startup funding
• Seed-stage investments
• Venture capital firm

Headquarters

HQ city

Hyderabad

HQ country

India

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Fund Management: VC firm generating returns through equity investments in early-stage startups. Receives management fees and carry from fund performance. Typical investment horizon of 7-10 years per portfolio company with aim to exit via IPO or acquisition.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

TDV Partners is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests at the pre-seed and seed stage in consumer-focused startups in India. The firm writes first institutional cheques typically ranging from USD 50,000 to USD 500,000, often before product-market fit or product existence, and supplements capital with hands-on operational support across product strategy, initial customer acquisition, early hiring, and follow-on fundraising.

Product overview

TDV Partners is an early-stage venture capital firm that serves as a pre-seed to seed-stage investor. Rather than offering a unified product platform, the firm provides investment services focused on consumer-focused startups in India, with cheque sizes typically ranging from USD 50k to 500k. The firm positions itself as the first institutional investor, typically writing the first cheque before product-market fit or even before product existence. The firm does not offer a commercial product; its offering is investment capital combined with operational support, network access, and mentorship for early-stage founders.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Pre-seed and Seed Venture Capital Investment Equity investment offering for Indian consumer-focused startups at the pre-seed and seed stage, providing first institutional cheques between USD 50,000 and USD 500,000 along with hands-on operating support.
• TDV Partners Fund II Second flagship venture capital fund of Rs 50 crore targeting pre-seed consumer and B2C startups in India with cheque sizes in the USD 500,000 to USD 1 million range, with a stated target of 10 investments by end of FY26 and 10-12 investments in FY27.

Quantifiable outcome

• 8 companies reached INR 100 Cr+ revenue stage
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

24 partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• Sandeep Gupta (Innovacer)minorOthersVenture partner - Co-founder of Innovacer, provides strategic advisory and network access
• Brijesh Agarwal (IndiMart)minorOthersVenture partner - Co-founder of Indiamart, provides strategic advisory and network access
• Dhruv Agarwala (Prop Tiger)minorOthersVenture partner - Co-founder of Prop Tiger, provides strategic advisory and network access
• Saurabh Garg (NoBroker)minorOthersVenture partner - Co-founder of NoBroker, provides strategic advisory and network access
• Aravind Sanka (Rapido)minorOthersVenture partner - Co-founder of Rapido, provides strategic advisory and network access
• Vijay Krishnan (Turing)minorOthersVenture partner - Co-founder of Turing, provides strategic advisory and network access
• Manish Agarwal (Kartos Gaming)minorOthersVenture partner - provides strategic advisory and network access
• Shashvat Nakrani (BharatPe)minorOthersVenture partner - Co-founder of BharatPe, provides strategic advisory and network access
• Gunjan Patidar (Ex-Zomato)minorOthersVenture partner - Ex-CTO of Zomato, provides strategic advisory and technical network access
• Jaspal Singh Riyat (Microsoft)minorOthersVenture partner - Corp Dev & Strategy at Microsoft, provides strategic advisory and enterprise network access
• Nikhil Sahni (Mastercard)minorOthersVenture partner - Executive at Mastercard, provides strategic advisory and financial services network access
• Akash Singh (Observe.ai)minorOthersVenture partner - Co-founder of Observe.ai, provides strategic advisory and network access
• Manish Bhatia (Lendingkart)minorOthersVenture partner - President at Lendingkart, provides strategic advisory and fintech network access
• Saurabh Jain (Livspace)minorOthersVenture partner - Co-founder of Livspace, provides strategic advisory and network access
• Zishaan Hayath (Toppr)minorOthersVenture partner - Co-founder of Toppr, provides strategic advisory and edtech network access
• Bikky Khosla (TradeIndia)minorOthersVenture partner - Chairman of TradeIndia, provides strategic advisory and B2B network access
• Ajay Prabhu (Quest Global)minorOthersVenture partner - President at Quest Global, provides strategic advisory and engineering network access
• Amit Ranjan (Slideshare)minorOthersVenture partner - Co-founder of Slideshare, provides strategic advisory and network access
• Manisha Raisinghani (Sifthub)minorOthersVenture partner - Founder of Sifthub, provides strategic advisory and network access
• Rangarajan Krishnan (Five Star Finance)minorOthersVenture partner - CEO of Five Star Finance, provides strategic advisory and fintech network access
• Surobhi Das (LAT Aerospace)minorOthersVenture partner - Co-founder of LAT Aerospace, provides strategic advisory and deeptech network access
• Shridhar Acharya (Salesforce)minorOthersVenture partner - Global Director at Salesforce, provides strategic advisory and enterprise software network access
• Abhimanyu (Coinbase India)minorOthersVenture partner - Coinbase India representative, provides strategic advisory and crypto/blockchain network access
• Rudra Peram (Netflix)minorOthersVenture partner - Security team at Netflix, provides strategic advisory and technology network access

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Better Capital: Better Capital is an India-focused pre-seed/seed VC backing consumer and SaaS startups with a small-cheque, founder-friendly approach that closely mirrors TDV Partners' model.
• Gemba Capital: Gemba Capital is an India-based micro-VC investing at pre-seed/seed in consumer and tech startups, comparable to TDV Partners in fund size, ticket size, and stage.
• Fireside Ventures: Fireside Ventures is an India-focused early-stage VC dedicated to consumer brands, highly comparable to TDV Partners' consumer thesis, though typically investing at slightly later seed/Series A stages.
• Multiply Ventures: Multiply Ventures is an India-based early-stage VC that has co-invested with TDV Partners in consumer plays like Eternz, with comparable cheque sizes, stage focus, and consumer/tech thesis.
• Kae Capital: Kae Capital is an India-focused early-stage VC backing seed-stage consumer and tech startups, frequently co-investing with TDV Partners in rounds such as Eternz.
• All In Capital: All In Capital is an India-focused micro-VC investing at pre-seed/seed in consumer startups; it co-led Acai Theory's round alongside TDV Partners, sharing similar ticket sizes and founder-first approach.
• Shastra VC: Shastra VC is an India-focused early-stage VC that has co-invested with TDV Partners in deals such as Flexprice; comparable in stage and approach, though with a more deeptech-leaning thesis.
• IIMA Ventures: IIMA Ventures is an India-focused early-stage VC that has co-invested with TDV Partners in deals like Eternz, with a comparable consumer/tech focus and pre-seed/seed profile.

Others

• Anupam Mittal (Shaadi.com / People Group): Anupam Mittal is a prolific Indian angel investor and People Group founder who frequently co-invests alongside institutional VCs such as TDV Partners in early-stage consumer startups like Flexprice.

Broad incumbents

• 3one4 Capital: 3one4 Capital is an established India-based early-stage VC with a broader consumer/tech focus than TDV Partners and a significantly larger fund, operating as a broad incumbent in the same space.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments36 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about TDV Partners