- IIMA Ventures and Jaivel Aerospace launch a fund to back early-stage Aerospace & Deep-tech startups
- The fund will invest up to $400,000 per startup, focusing on deeptech solutions like autonomy and advanced manufacturing
- Startups gain mentorship, development support, and access to Jaivel’s global manufacturing network
Ahmedabad, [13th Oct 2025] — IIMA Ventures and Jaivel Aerospace are proud to announce the launch of the Aerospace & Deep-tech Acceleration Fund. This collaborative initiative brings together IIMA Ventures’ expertise in nurturing breakthrough ventures and Jaivel Aerospace’s experience in transforming an Indian startup into a globally respected aerospace business. The newly unveiled acceleration fund is specifically designed to empower 8-10 early-stage companies developing technologies in autonomy, advanced materials, advanced manufacturing, and secure communications technologies.
The acceleration fund offers not only critical financial backing but also domain-specific expertise to help startups accelerate their journey from prototype to market. Selected startups will benefit not only from pre-seed/ seed funding up to USD $400,000 each but also from top-tier, structured mentorship, access to state-of-the-art development facilities, and opportunities to collaborate directly with leaders in the aerospace sector.
Vipul Patel, Partner at IIMA Ventures, commented, “Our partnership with Jaivel Aerospace marks a defining moment in our mission to empower visionary founders. Together, we’re committed to de-risking the 0-to-1 journey by solving for capital, connections, coaching, and community. Through this deep, verticalized approach, our aspiration is to help build some of the most defining Aerospace & Deep-tech startups in India.”
Vipul Vachhani, Founder & CEO at Jaivel Aerospace, added, “Together with IIMA Ventures, we aim to create the platform for startups to leverage Jaivel Aerospace’s international advanced manufacturing network as well as build robust execution model from the start. Startups will also benefit from Jaivel Aerospace’s design, engineering and manufacturing ecosystem to accelerate time to market.”
IIMA Ventures has actively supported innovation in the aerospace and defense sectors, working with startups such as Sagar Defense, ePlane, Ideaforge, NabhDrishti, Nopo Nanotechnologies, and Onnes Cryogenics. It has also built a strong portfolio of around 14 startups in the space-tech domain, including ventures like Agnikul, PierSight, Galaxeye, and Bellatrix. This new acceleration fund further underscores IIMA Ventures’ commitment to deep-tech innovation and strengthening India’s strategic capabilities in these critical sectors.
Aerospace & Deep-tech Acceleration Fund, strengthened by this industry partnership, aims to enable startups to rapidly scale, commercialize, and deploy technologies critical to both Deep-tech and advanced civilian aerospace. It welcomes partnership interest from like-minded institutions and individuals who share this mission. Interested founders working at the intersection of autonomy, propulsion, AI, and high-performance materials are encouraged to engage with the acceleration fund for funding and collaborative opportunities.
About IIMA Ventures
Built at IIM Ahmedabad in 2002 as an entrepreneurship centre and incorporated in 2007-08 as a section-8 company, IIMA Ventures (Formerly known as IIMA-CIIE) is the innovation continuum that studies, educates, incubates, accelerates and invests in early stage startups, aspiring entrepreneurs and Investors.
IIMA Ventures has mentored over 10000 founders, accelerated over 2000 startups, provided catalytic capital to over 700 companies, and inspired over a million people with our 400+ publications. It has been a pioneer on multiple fronts including India’s first accelerator – iAccelerator, India’s largest idea scouting competition – The Power of Ideas, India’s first climate fund – INFUSE Ventures, India’s biggest platform for inclusive fintechs – Bharat Inclusion Initiative, India’s first entrepreneurship bestseller – Stay Hungry Stay Foolish, Startup Compass and many more.
IIMA Ventures is recognised as a Centre of Excellence by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.
In Picture From Right:
Supriya Sharma (Partner – Insights, IIMA Ventures), Bhakti Jhaveri Dhanak (AVP – Human Resources, IIMA Ventures), Vipul Patel, Partner – Seed Investing, IIMA Ventures, Vipul Vachhani (Founder & CEO – Jaivel), Kunal Upadhyay (Co-Founder, IIMA Ventures), Sanea Vakaliya (Director – Finance & Legal, IIMA Ventures)
Startup Contact
Startup’s are welcome to register their interest with IIMA Ventures using following link.
In the News
The Economic Times , Indian Startup Times , Indian Startup News , Global Venturing , Silicon India , ENTRACKR , YourStory , The Hindu Businessline
About Jaivel
Jaivel Aerospace is a manufacturing technology organisation with expertise in substantially improving performance of advanced manufacturing programs. We are a team of designers, developers and engineers that Designs and Builds Processes, Systems and Products that are Fun to Use.
The winning combination of our Design, Process and System businesses apply technology and innovation to improve performance of customer’s product and manufacturing operations, whilst our Product business offers the option to give us full responsibility of making your product.
Our team’s relentless pursuit to cut through complexity to offer a simplified and intuitive solutions, has inspired the trust of Global 10 aerospace clients. With one goal: enabling our customers to succeed, we measure our success by the value we create for our customers.