Former BharatPe CEO Suhail Sameer has announced OTP Ventures first fund’s final close at ₹500 Cr
The fund, which had initially set out to raise ₹400 Cr, exceeded its target following a 17-month fundraising exercise that began in August 2024
Sameer shared that the total fund has a diversified LP base of around 55 investors
A little over two years after launching his early-stage venture capital fund, former BharatPe CEO Suhail Sameer has announced OTP Ventures first fund’s final close at ₹500 Cr. The fund, which had initially set out to raise ₹400 Cr, exceeded its target following a 17-month fundraising exercise that began in August 2024.
In a post on LinkedIn, Sameer said that the fund received commitments of over ₹750 Cr by January 2026 but chose to cap the fund at ₹500 Cr, citing “fund size discipline and return considerations”.
In a LinkedIn post, Sameer said the first ₹180-200 Cr came quickly from founders, former colleagues, friends and other venture capital investors.
However, he said the next few quarters were difficult, with several rejections from institutional investors and family offices. Some investors, he said, backed out after initial interest or signed non-binding commitments.
Per him, the momentum picked up around August-September 2025, when the fund had reached about ₹250 Cr, eventually crossing its original ₹400 Cr target by November 2025. Sameer added that fresh commitments continued through the end of the year, taking total commitments to over ₹750 Cr before the firm decided to close at ₹500 Cr.
“We eventually chose to only take ₹500 Cr (has to do with our sense of sweet spot fund size to maximise returns to our investors), and ended up having to say no to a few institutions. We could have taken that money instead of letting existing investors increase commitment, but it felt a betrayal of the trust they had shown in us (when we had nothing but a license, and some hope),” his post read.
In conversation with Inc42, Sameer shared that the total fund has a diversified LP base of around 55 investors. Founders account for roughly 10% of the corpus, with about 20 startup founders participating as backers. Besides, OTP Ventures’ general partners themselves have committed approximately 10-15% of the fund, making them among the largest contributors.
“Another set of nearly 20 professionals, including operators and CXOs from technology companies and consulting firms, contribute a slightly larger share. Family offices have about 10-12 investors in the segment, while three institutional LPs round out the base,” he noted.
Founded in 2023, OTP Ventures is an early-stage fund that aims to be the first institutional capital backing founders at the Seed or Pre-Series A stage. The firm was co-founded by Sameer along with ex-Foodpanda India MD Kunal Suri and Saurabh Vashishtha.
It focuses on consumer, consumer tech and fintech startups, sectors where the partners bring operating experience.
Since inception, OTP Ventures has backed startups like Rupeek, Traya, Fable Street, abcoffee and NatHabit. Its latest disclosed investment is in D2C home appliance brand Nester, where it led its $2 Mn pre-Series A funding round.
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