Aarin Capital

Reviewed Updated May 1, 2026

This profile is AI-generated. If you spot an error, please help us fix it by sharing a URL to the correct information.

Location Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Founded 2012
Fund Size $100M-$150M (reported)
Website https://aarincapital.com
Stage Focus
seed series-a
Sector Focus
life-sciences healthtech edtech software retail consumer

Team

T V Mohandas Pai Co-Founder & Chairman

About

Aarin Capital is a proprietary venture fund / family office based in Bengaluru, India, co-founded by T V Mohandas Pai (former CFO and Board Member of Infosys) and Dr. Ranjan Pai (Chairman of the Manipal Education and Medical Group) 12. Public reports place the firm’s founding in 2012, though one Tracxn-derived source lists 2011 34. Aarin’s fund size is variously reported as $100 million (per the Exfinity Ventures team page, also describing Aarin as a “family office”) and $150 million (per Razorpay Rize and other secondary aggregators) 25. The firm is structured as a permanent-capital vehicle rather than a fund-cycle GP/LP partnership.

As of FY24-25 Aarin Capital has invested in 50 portfolio companies, with combined portfolio revenue of ₹16,580 crore 6. PharmEasy (API Holdings) is the single largest revenue contributor at ₹6,699.8 crore 6. Cumulative deployment since 2013 stands at approximately ₹203.02 crore, with deal sizes ranging from ₹92.5 lakh to ₹34.2 crore 6. Peak deployment was ₹57.34 crore in 2017; recent annual deployments have slowed materially (FY23: ₹0.2 crore; FY24: ₹9.49 crore), suggesting the firm is now primarily in management and follow-on mode rather than active new-deal sourcing 6.

Aarin Capital invests both directly in startups and as an LP into “15+ funds that span multiple asset classes such as early and growth stage venture capital, public markets, real estate project financing, hedge funds, and PE funds” 52.

Stated Thesis

Aarin Capital publicly describes its mandate as backing “technology-intensive businesses in life-sciences & healthcare, education and other potentially large India-centric or India-first market opportunities” 14. Announcing Aarin’s pre-Series A lead investment into 88academics in September 2021, Mohandas Pai stated: “We seek to partner technology-intensive businesses in life-sciences & healthcare, education and other potentially large India-centric or India-first companies. 88academics provides us with an opportunity to invest in a sector we know well and back a highly experienced management team with a differentiated product and a disruptive business model.” 7

On its website Aarin describes its goal as creating “long-term value by partnering with knowledgeable, adept and passionate founder teams,” with a stated emphasis on technology, differentiation, and sustainable profitable business models from inception 1. The firm advertises post-investment support across customer-centric strategy validation, profitable growth, geographic scalability, cash flow optimisation, and governance/compliance 1.

Inferred Thesis

This analysis is based on Aarin Capital’s 50-company portfolio (as of FY24-25, per PrivateCircle reporting from firm disclosures) and the directly-named investments below 6.

Sector distribution (50 companies, FY24-25 disclosed) 6: - Retail: 12.0% (6 of 50) - Software: 12.0% (6 of 50) - Life Sciences: 10.0% (5 of 50) - Education: 6.0% (3 of 50) - Hotels & Accommodation: 4.0% (2 of 50) - Other sectors: 56.0% (28 of 50)

Stage distribution: Aggregator profiles describe Aarin as primarily a Seed and Series A investor 8. The named portfolio is overwhelmingly seed-to-Series-A range: 88academics (Pre-Series A, $3M lead), TripFactory (Series A, 2015), KleverKid (early), Licious (angel via Mohandas Pai personally, 2015), BYJU’S (early 2012), Counsyl (early), Vyome Biosciences (early).

Check sizes: Deal sizes range from ₹92.5 lakh (~$110K) to ₹34.2 crore (~$4.1M), with peak deployment of ₹57.34 crore in calendar year 2017 6. This corresponds with Pai’s personal Signal/NFX-reported individual range of $100K-$5M 9.

Geographic focus: Overwhelmingly India-centric, consistent with the stated “India-centric or India-first” thesis. Notable exception: Counsyl, a US-based genomics company acquired by Myriad Genetics in 2018 5.

Founder profile patterns: Approximately 13.5% of Aarin Capital portfolio founders graduated from Tier-1 institutions (IITs/IIMs), while 86.42% came from other universities 6. This is a notable distinction from many India-focused VC funds that skew heavily toward IIT/IIM founder networks — Aarin is willing to back non-pedigreed founders.

Notable exits and outcomes: - BYJU’S — invested ~$9.2M in late 2012; exited at a reported 4x return; the company later became one of India’s largest edtech unicorns before its 2023-2024 unwind 10 - PharmEasy (API Holdings) — single largest portfolio revenue contributor at ₹6,699.8 crore 6 - Licious — angel investment via Mohandas Pai (2015); company later became India’s first D2C unicorn (October 2021) 11 - Counsyl — sold to Myriad Genetics in 2018 5

Notable patterns vs. stated thesis: Aarin’s stated focus is “life-sciences & healthcare, education and other India-centric” companies, but the disclosed sector mix (FY24-25) shows Retail and Software at 12% each, comparable to Life Sciences at 10% and well above Education at 6% 6. The “other sectors” bucket (56%) is large enough that the stated thematic focus is less concentrated in practice than in messaging.

Portfolio

This table lists 14 named Aarin Capital portfolio investments confirmed by contemporaneous press or Aarin’s own communications. Aarin’s full portfolio is 50 companies as of FY24-25 6, so this represents roughly 28% of disclosed investments.

Company Stage Year Lead Partner Sector Status
BYJU’S Early ($9.2M) 2012 Mohandas Pai EdTech Active (post-unwind) 10
Counsyl Early ~2013 — Life Sciences/Genomics Acquired by Myriad (2018) 5
Faircent Early ~2014 — Fintech/Lending Active 5
Vyome Biosciences Early ~2014 — Life Sciences Active 5
TripFactory Series A 2015 Mohandas Pai Travel Active 12
KleverKid Early 2015-05 Mohandas Pai EdTech — 13
YourStory Early ~2014-2015 — Media Active 514
Praxify Early ~2013 — HealthTech/SaaS Acquired 5
HomeLane Early ~2016 — Interior Design / Home Active 5
PharmEasy (API Holdings) Early ~2016 — HealthTech / Pharmacy Active 6
~unknown Jigsaw Academy Early — — EdTech / Analytics
~unknown Impact Analytics Early — — SaaS / Retail
88academics Pre-Series A ($3M) 2021-09-27 Mohandas Pai EdTech Active 7
Invact Metaversity Seed/Early ~2022 — EdTech / Metaverse — 14

In Their Own Words

“We seek to partner technology-intensive businesses in life-sciences & healthcare, education and other potentially large India-centric or India-first companies. 88academics provides us with an opportunity to invest in a sector we know well and back a highly experienced management team with a differentiated product and a disruptive business model.” — T V Mohandas Pai, Co-Founder & Chairman, on Aarin Capital’s pre-Series A lead in 88academics, September 27, 2021 7

Aarin Capital’s own website describes its mandate as creating “long-term value by partnering with knowledgeable, adept and passionate founder teams” and emphasises “technology, differentiation, and sustainable profitable business models from inception” 1.

What Founders Say

Reporting on Licious’s early fundraise has noted that founders Vivek Gupta and Abhay Hanjura have publicly described Mohandas Pai (a personal-angel Licious backer, not an Aarin Capital deal) as one of their most active early supporters; founders have said they have a “simple rule” — they write to him about any need, “whether it’s about leasing land or meeting the media, and he connects them with the right people” 11. This is paraphrased reporting; no verbatim founder quote naming Aarin Capital specifically was located in this research pass.

No independently sourced founder testimonials about Aarin Capital (as distinct from Mohandas Pai personally) were located in this research pass.

Sources

  1. Aarin Capital, “About,” accessed May 2026. https://aarincapital.com/about/↩↩↩↩↩

  2. Exfinity Ventures, “Mohandas Pai TV | Co-founder & Advisor,” accessed May 2026. https://www.exfinityventures.com/team/mohandas-pai↩↩↩

  3. Inc42 company page, “Aarin Capital - A Venture Capital Firm Based Out Of Bengaluru,” accessed May 2026. https://inc42.com/company/aarin-capital/↩

  4. Innovations of the World, “Aarin Capital – Investing In India-Centric Opportunities,” accessed May 2026. https://innovationsoftheworld.com/investing-in-india-centric-opportunities/↩↩

  5. Razorpay Rize, “List of Startups Funded by T.V. Mohandas Pai,” accessed May 2026. https://razorpay.com/rize/investors-list/t-v-mohandas-pai↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  6. PrivateCircle Blog, “Aarin Capital 2024-25: Sector Preferences and Investment Insights,” accessed May 2026. https://blog.privatecircle.co/aarin-capital-2024-25/↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  7. Business Today, “88academics raises $3 mn in round led by Mohandas Pai’s Aarin Capital,” September 27, 2021. https://www.businesstoday.in/latest/corporate/story/88academics-raises-3-mn-in-round-led-by-mohandas-pais-aarin-capital-307723-2021-09-27↩↩↩

  8. Tracxn, “Aarin Capital - 2026 Investor Profile, Portfolio, Team & Investment Trends,” accessed May 2026. https://tracxn.com/d/venture-capital/aarin-capital/__XTmSKqBUal7y9RY7QPJBNzv1LEFpo8PFz-TeU1Ugunw↩

  9. NFX Signal, “Mohandas Pai’s Investing Profile - 3one4 Capital Investor,” accessed May 2026. https://signal.nfx.com/investors/mohandas-pai↩

  10. Open Magazine, “Mohandas Pai: The Renewable Man,” accessed May 2026. https://openthemagazine.com/features/profile/mohandas-pai-the-renewable-man↩↩

  11. Indian Retailer, “Former Infosys Director TV Mohandas Pai invests in Licious,” accessed May 2026. https://www.indianretailer.com/restaurant/news/former-infosys-director-tv-mohandas-pai-invests-in-licious.n942↩↩

  12. YourStory, “TripFactory raises Series A funding from Aarin Capital,” July 2015. https://yourstory.com/2015/07/tripfactory-funding↩

  13. YourStory, “KleverKid, platform for tutors, raises funding from Mohandas Pai’s Aarin Capital and others,” May 2015. https://yourstory.com/2015/05/aarin-capital-funding-kleverkid↩

  14. Planify, “Mohandas Pai Portfolio, Shareholdings & Investments,” accessed May 2026. https://www.planify.in/investors/mohandas-pai/↩↩