Steptrade Capital, an Ahmedabad-based SEBI-registered different funding fund supervisor, has achieved the primary shut of its unannounced CAT II AIF, Chanakya Alternatives Fund II (COF II), securing greater than Rs 100 crore in investor commitments inside simply three months of launch.

Launched in February 2026 with a goal corpus of Rs 500 crore, Chanakya Alternatives Fund II accomplished its first shut by way of an unique preliminary participation part.

The fund has attracted commitments from ultra-high-net-worth people, household workplaces and complicated traders looking for publicity to India’s increasing pre-IPO market.

With the primary shut now full and capital deployment set to start in August, the fund is opening its subsequent allocation window to a broader pool of eligible traders.

Chanakya Alternatives Fund II has been launched within the legacy of Chanakya Alternatives Fund I, India’s first SME-Change-focused CAT II AIF. CA Kresha Gupta has based the sequence.

COF I used to be co-managed by CA Kresha Gupta and Ankush Jain, CFA. COF II is co-managed by CA Kresha Gupta and CA Akshay Dawra.

The primary theme is Superior Manufacturing, masking electronics and ESDM, speciality chemical substances, defence and aerospace, and semiconductors. The second is Power Transition and Infrastructure, together with battery power storage programs, electrical car ecosystems, energy transmission, transformers, grid modernisation and knowledge centre infrastructure. The third is Rising Enablers, comprising AI and robotics, digital healthcare diagnostics, bio-manufacturing and uncommon earth provide chains.

Not like conventional listed fairness funds, COF II is designed for Pre-IPO and growth-stage corporations. At this stage, companies have usually established business scale, whereas remaining outdoors the general public markets the place valuations are sometimes reset following an IPO.

“India’s subsequent technology of listed corporations is being constructed effectively earlier than they attain the inventory exchanges,” mentioned CA Kresha Gupta, Fund Supervisor, Chanakya Alternatives Fund I and II, and Director, Steptrade Capital.

“The response to our first shut displays rising investor conviction that the pre-IPO stage has change into an essential a part of long-term wealth creation. Our focus stays on figuring out companies which are benefiting from structural adjustments throughout manufacturing, power and know-how earlier than they change into broadly accessible.”

CA Akshay Dawra, Fund Supervisor, Chanakya Alternatives Fund II, mentioned, “The non-public markets have advanced considerably over the previous few years. Traders are more and more looking for institutional entry to corporations throughout their progress part fairly than after they change into public. Our funding technique is centred on figuring out companies with robust fundamentals and the potential to change into class leaders over the approaching years.”