Key Takeaways
- • Campus Fund has closed $100 million for its third institutional fund, with more than $50 million committed at first close, representing a significant scale-up from its $10 million second fund (2022) and ₹7 crore inaugural fund (2020).
- • Founder Richa Bajpai is repositioning early-stage venture capital around student and recent graduate-led startups, targeting an underserved, high-potential segment in India's decentralizing higher education and emerging Tier 2/Tier 3 startup ecosystems.
- • Fund III will deploy capital over four to five years across 60–80 startups, providing extended investment runway versus earlier funds that required frequent capital raises and limited institutional building time.
- • Bajpai's investment thesis is grounded in personal experience—she founded her first startup at age 21 in 2009 while in her final year of engineering, followed by Goodera in 2014, validating the potential of unconventional founder trajectories.
- • Campus Fund is modeled on the U.S.-based Dorm Room Fund model, adapted for India's market, and positions student-led venture backing as "one of the smartest investments of this decade" as India's startup ecosystem decentralizes beyond traditional metros.
Summary
Richa Bajpai's Campus Fund has emerged as a contrarian player in Indian venture capital, building an institutional investment thesis around student and recent graduate-led startups—a segment traditionally underserved by conventional VC due to lack of established track records. Founded in 2020 as an MBA thesis project at London Business School, Campus Fund has grown from a ₹7 crore initial vehicle deploying capital across 10 startups to a $100 million institution now entering its third fund cycle.
The third fund represents a decisive shift toward institutional permanence. With more than $50 million committed at its first close, Fund III provides Bajpai with sufficient capital to invest consistently over four to five years without returning to market repeatedly for fundraising. This extended deployment horizon addresses a structural pain point from earlier funds—the founder noted that constant capital-raising cycles diverted resources from institutional building and founder support. The new fund plans to back 60–80 startups over its investment period, indicating a diversified, thematic approach to student and dropout-led ventures.
Bajpai's conviction in this thesis is rooted in lived experience. She launched her first startup at age 21 in 2009 while completing her engineering degree, operating in an nascent Indian startup ecosystem. She later founded Goodera in 2014 before returning to business school, where exposure to the U.S.-based Dorm Room Fund model catalyzed the idea of adapting that approach for India. Her framework contests the traditional VC assumption that credentialed experience signals lower risk; instead, she argues that early-stage founders possess advantages including intellectual agility, lower opportunity costs, and alignment with emerging market dynamics.
The market context supports this positioning. India's higher education landscape is decentralizing, with growth concentrated in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities where startup ecosystems are rapidly developing but remain undercapitalized. Student-led ventures disproportionately populate these geographies, creating an information asymmetry that institutional capital has largely ignored. Bajpai's messaging—that backing student founders is "no longer just a visionary bet" but rather a "smartest investment of this decade"—signals confidence in both demographic trends and the untapped potential of youth-led innovation in India's fragmented startup landscape.
Campus Fund's growth trajectory from experimental thesis to a $100 million fund reflects broader institutional validation of the model while maintaining focus on a deliberately narrow but underserved thesis. The extended fund lifecycle and increased capital base position the platform to build operational infrastructure, support services, and follow-on capabilities that earlier, capital-constrained iterations could not sustain.
The third fund represents a decisive shift toward institutional permanence. With more than $50 million committed at its first close, Fund III provides Bajpai with sufficient capital to invest consistently over four to five years without returning to market repeatedly for fundraising. This extended deployment horizon addresses a structural pain point from earlier funds—the founder noted that constant capital-raising cycles diverted resources from institutional building and founder support. The new fund plans to back 60–80 startups over its investment period, indicating a diversified, thematic approach to student and dropout-led ventures.
Bajpai's conviction in this thesis is rooted in lived experience. She launched her first startup at age 21 in 2009 while completing her engineering degree, operating in an nascent Indian startup ecosystem. She later founded Goodera in 2014 before returning to business school, where exposure to the U.S.-based Dorm Room Fund model catalyzed the idea of adapting that approach for India. Her framework contests the traditional VC assumption that credentialed experience signals lower risk; instead, she argues that early-stage founders possess advantages including intellectual agility, lower opportunity costs, and alignment with emerging market dynamics.
The market context supports this positioning. India's higher education landscape is decentralizing, with growth concentrated in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities where startup ecosystems are rapidly developing but remain undercapitalized. Student-led ventures disproportionately populate these geographies, creating an information asymmetry that institutional capital has largely ignored. Bajpai's messaging—that backing student founders is "no longer just a visionary bet" but rather a "smartest investment of this decade"—signals confidence in both demographic trends and the untapped potential of youth-led innovation in India's fragmented startup landscape.
Campus Fund's growth trajectory from experimental thesis to a $100 million fund reflects broader institutional validation of the model while maintaining focus on a deliberately narrow but underserved thesis. The extended fund lifecycle and increased capital base position the platform to build operational infrastructure, support services, and follow-on capabilities that earlier, capital-constrained iterations could not sustain.
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