Nandan Nilekani is no longer a general partner at Fundamentum Partnership, the venture capital firm he co-founded in 2017, as the firm simultaneously launches its third fund targeting roughly $200 million TechCrunch.

Sanjeev Aggarwal, who co-founded Fundamentum with Nilekani after helping build Helion Venture Partners, confirmed the change to TechCrunch. Nilekani did not respond to TechCrunch's request for comment. Aggarwal characterized the shift in blunt terms: "just a title thing," adding that Nilekani remains "an integral part of our firm" TechCrunch.

Nilekani's new role is anchor investor in Fund III. He will also continue advising the firm and mentoring portfolio companies, according to Aggarwal. Separately, Aggarwal said Fund III will represent Nilekani's largest-ever commitment to a venture fund, though he declined to specify the amount.

The GP seat now rests with four people: Aggarwal, Prateek Jain, Mayank Kachhwaha, and Sanjay Chaturvedi. Jain has been with Fundamentum since inception in 2017. Kachhwaha joined ahead of Fund II. Chaturvedi has been at the firm for close to a decade. None of the four is a new face brought in to fill a vacancy — all were already embedded in the firm's investment process before this reshuffle.

Fundamentum invests in Indian startups at Series B and beyond, a stage distinction that separates it from the seed and pre-seed funds that dominate headlines in India's venture ecosystem. Its existing portfolio includes Spinny, PharmEasy, Kuku FM, and AppsForBharat — a mix that spans used-car marketplaces, healthtech, audio content, and vernacular internet products, reflecting a thesis built around India's consumer internet maturing rather than merely scaling.

Fund III carries a target corpus of ₹1,800 crore to ₹2,500 crore, equivalent to roughly $200 million at current exchange rates YourStory/LinkedIn. That marks a step up from Fund II, which closed at $227 million in 2022 IndiaInfoline Moneycontrol. Notably, the rupee-denominated target for Fund III sits at a similar dollar equivalent to Fund II's raise, suggesting the firm's ambitions are holding roughly steady in dollar terms even as it scales its rupee book.

Fund III intends to back eight to ten early-stage startups in consumer technology, fintech, and AI, deploying initial checks of about ₹100 crore — roughly $10.5 million — per company. Fundamentum has already begun deploying capital from the new fund despite not having announced a first close, Aggarwal told TechCrunch. He expects the fundraising process to wrap within 12 to 18 months, with roughly half the target corpus coming from international investors and the remainder from Indian institutions, family offices, founders, and the firm's own partners.

The timing of Nilekani's departure from the GP title alongside a fund launch is the kind of sequencing that invites scrutiny in venture circles, where a founder stepping back from an operating title while a new vehicle is being raised can read multiple ways depending on the firm. Aggarwal's framing — that this is a title change rather than a substantive exit — is consistent with Nilekani retaining both his largest-ever capital commitment to the firm and an active advisory and mentoring role. Whether limited partners read it the same way once the fundraising process concludes will be a fair test of how much the GP designation actually mattered to Fundamentum's pitch.

Nilekani's public profile extends well beyond Fundamentum. As the architect of India's Aadhaar biometric identity system and a former Infosys co-founder and chairman, his name carries weight with both domestic and international capital that a typical fund's GP roster does not. An anchor investor with that kind of institutional credibility arguably does more for a fundraise targeting international LPs than a GP title on a term sheet would.

For founders in Fundamentum's target range — Series B consumer, fintech, and AI companies writing checks in the $10 million range — the practical effect of this reshuffle is likely to be minimal in the near term. The four GPs steering Fund III have collectively been involved in sourcing, diligence, and portfolio support since the firm's earlier funds, and Nilekani's continued mentoring role suggests founders will still have access to his network and reputation, even if his signature no longer carries the GP designation on fund documents.