A clutch of investors and entrepreneurs, including Deep Kalra of MakeMyTrip, Vidit Aatrey of Meesho, and Hari Menon of BigBasket, have jointly launched TILT, an impact-focused investment platform with a ₹250 crore corpus to back early-stage startups.
Backed by The Nudge Foundation, the fund will primarily invest from seed to series A, with cheque sizes ranging from ₹2 crore to ₹16 crore. Its investors also include Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal, former TPG NewQuest executive Amit Gupta, Raj & Indra Nooyi Family Office and US-based Livelihood Impact Fund.
TILT is targeting a funding gap faced by early-stage businesses serving low-income communities, which often take longer to build product-market fit, distribution and sustainable economics than conventional venture-backed businesses. The platform aims to provide patient, impact-first capital to such ventures and support them through their early stages.
“Beyond Nudge, which is our fund sponsor, we have an equal mix of institutions as well as individual investors who have contributed to the fund,” TILT’s founder and managing partner, Atul Satija told Mint in an interview. “The fund has a 12-year tenure which includes a two-year extension. Given that we are an impact-first fund, the kind of investors have been very flexible on the IRRs (internal rate of return) we eventually land at.”
Focus on ‘next billion’ consumers
Its investment thesis is centred on businesses serving low-income communities, which often take longer to establish product-market fit, build distribution, and develop resilient economics than conventional venture businesses. While mainstream capital typically enters once growth and risks are clearer, TILT is designed to support ventures earlier in their journey.
TILT will focus on science- and technology-led businesses across agricultural value chains, climate resilience, informal work and emerging employment models, MSME productivity, employability, financial inclusion, market access and distribution, technology and AI applied to livelihood challenges. It will also support areas such as research, market development, partnerships, and ecosystem infrastructure.
“We spoke to over 100 startups and found that while they had capital to run pilots and raise beyond Series A, there was a funding gap in between. These businesses can generate returns, but not the kind of returns that fit traditional investors’ IRR-focused models,” co-founder and managing partner Richa Singh told Mint.
The fund plans to make about 20-25 investments while making provisions for follow-on capital. “We are also allocating capital for the next round as we want to support startups that are in right growth trajectory with a need for funds,” Singh said. It is already in the process of finalizing its first two investments.
The platform is focused on what Singh describes as the “next billion” consumers—people earning between ₹1.5 lakh and ₹5 lakh a year—as they become increasingly ready for scalable market solutions.
“Any solution that is impacting their livelihoods or transforming their lives is what we are interested in,” she added.
Building solutions
The/Nudge, which Satija founded and led for a decade, works with entrepreneurs building solutions across livelihoods and other complex social challenges, and led the organisation for the past decade. The/Nudge has supported more than 190 social enterprises and deployed about ₹180 crore in grants.
As these ventures progressed from early validation towards scale, it became evident that many needed more than philanthropic support to realize their full potential. Following this, Satija transitioned to a founder and mentor role at the foundation and set up TILT to meet that need and take the foundation’s work forward. The/Nudge and TILT are separate entities, with distinct teams and governing practices, Satija said.
“Over the next 15 years, we aim to back 150+ startups and meaningfully improve 100 million lives,” Satija said, adding that talent and capital are the most important ingredients in driving impact.
“Markets move where capital points, and we want to reimagine how impact investing can work in India by directing capital towards opportunities that can create lasting value,” Singh said.