\u201cWe come from this multigenerational family of Indian Army and Air Force,\u201d said Raj. \u201cEveryone served, on one side. And then, everyone\u2019s been farmers, in agriculture. So, when we go back it\u2019s acres and acres of ancestral land our family\u2019s held for generations.\u201d<\/p>\n
The brothers\u2014now respectively 31 and 27\u2014have spent most (or, in Sunny\u2019s case, all) of their lives in the U.S. But those origins have remained influential: As the two of them looked at starting their own VC firm, Raj and Sunny believed they could compete in a viscerally competitive landscape by drawing on where they came from. There are, after all, many kinds of villages.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s the actual village where our family comes from, of course,\u201d said Sunny. \u201cBut there\u2019s also a metaphorical village we like to point to, that\u2019s beyond a physical community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Raj and Sunny started New York and San Francisco-based Vicus Ventures\u2014the name taken from the Latin word for village\u2014 in 2024. At the time, Sunny had previously worked as a consultant at Bain, while Raj had spent three years working on wearables and AI at Alphabet\u2019s Verily. They\u2019ve been investing as they go for the last couple of years, backing companies like Avoca<\/a>, Specter, Pallet, and Yuzu Health. Now, Vicus has closed its debut fund at $55 million, a frankly contrarian number in a mega-fund world (and even for an emerging manager). Sunny and Raj told Fortune they turned down \u201cway more\u201d capital.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFounders are getting younger than ever, getting more term sheets and blank checks thrown at them than ever,\u201d said Raj. \u201cSo, what do they really need? It\u2019s not capital anymore that\u2019s differentiated. Whether we\u2019re deploying 55 or 155, that won\u2019t move the needle in us getting the best deals. It\u2019s us coming in and saying: \u2018We\u2019re going to deliver minimum dilution, maximum impact.\u2019 Our LPs can then see our returns because we\u2019re the right-sized fund where we can actually do that.\u201d<\/p>\n There was symbolism to the $55 million\u2014Punjab is known as \u201cthe land of five rivers,\u201d and Vicus settled on 55 LPs. The number of LPs is far less interesting than who those LPs are. Vicus\u2019s LP roster includes General Catalyst, Kleiner Perkins, Amazon<\/a> legend Jeff Wilke, Galaxy Digital\u2019s Mike Novogratz, Blackstone<\/a> chairman David Blitzer, Oura CEO Tom Hale, and McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown. Brown\u2014famed as a star of Netflix\u2019s Formula 1: Drive to Survive\u2014isn\u2019t necessarily a frequent backer of VC firms, but he\u2019s been attuned to the AI boom and was struck by Sunny and Raj.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, what\u2019s happening in tech around AI is insane,\u201d said Brown. \u201cThese guys\u2014with their profile, connections, energy, and knowledge\u2014they can be extremely successful, and appear to have been successful in a short period of time. They\u2019re very well-connected.\u201d<\/p>\n Ultimately, Vicus\u2019s LP base is part of its pitch, which hinges on what they call \u201cnetwork-as-a-service.\u201d The idea: that Sunny and Raj, through their thoughtfully curated LP ecosystem and broader network, link founders to people and institutions that generate revenue and resilience. In its way, it is a very old-school view of venture: Definitionally small, deeply personalized, and increasingly what many would consider a dying (or at least threatened) art.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery VC says they\u2019ll be helpful,\u201d said Xerxes Libsch, who founded sought-after stealth defense startup Specter, via email. \u201cVery few actually change the trajectory of a company drastically. Vicus has. As I was thinking of leaving Anduril, Sunny and Raj were first believers, and they\u2019ve truly acted as \u201cforward deployed investors\u201d as I joke with them.\u201d<\/p>\n It all goes back to a clich\u00e9 that\u2019s retained charm because it\u2019s simply true: However much tech loves the idea of \u201cthe great founder who does it all alone,\u201d no one does it alone. It always takes a village.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you look at anyone\u2019s life, what you\u2019ve accomplished, what we\u2019ve accomplished, it took a village of people supporting us in different ways,\u201d said Sunny. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what we\u2019re looking to do with Vicus, replicate a village.\u201d<\/p>\n See you tomorrow,<\/p>\n Allie Garfinkle Submit a deal for the Term Sheet newsletter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Joey Abrams curated the deals section of today\u2019s newsletter. Subscribe here<\/a>.<\/p>\n VENTURE CAPITAL<\/p>\n – Straiker<\/b><\/a>, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based agentic security company, raised $64 million in Series A funding. Marathon<\/b> Management<\/b> Partners<\/b>, Citi<\/b> Ventures<\/b>, Illuminate<\/b> Ventures<\/b>, and Workday Ventures<\/b> led the round and were joined by Bain Capital<\/b> Ventures<\/b> and Lightspeed<\/b>.<\/p>\n – Omen<\/b> AI<\/b><\/a>, a San Francisco-based fluid analysis company, raised $31 million in Series A funding. Nava<\/b> Ventures<\/b> led the round and was joined by CRV<\/b>, Sheryl<\/b> Sandberg<\/b>, Mike<\/b> Mattacola<\/b>, Vanderbilt<\/b> University<\/b>, and others.<\/p>\n – 1001<\/b><\/a>, a London, U.K. and Dubai-based industrial AI infrastructure startup, raised $30 million in Series A funding. Lux<\/b> Capital<\/b> led the round and was joined by Sanabil<\/b> Investments<\/b>, 9Yards<\/b>, Hanabi<\/b>, and others.<\/p>\n – Nebex<\/b><\/a>, a New York City-based market infrastructure platform for the global space economy, raised $30 million in seed funding. GV<\/b> led the round and was joined by others.<\/p>\n – Gaussion<\/b><\/a>, a London, U.K.-based energy intelligence company, raised $28 million in funding. BGF<\/b> and AlbionVC<\/b> led the round and was joined by Autotech<\/b> Ventures<\/b>, UCL<\/b> Technology<\/b> Fund<\/b>, DN<\/b> Capital<\/b>, and Future<\/b> Ventures<\/b>.<\/p>\n – Open<\/b> Vision<\/b> Engineering<\/b><\/a>, a San Francisco-based developer of the Pocket AI voice recorder platform, raised $11 million in funding from Accel<\/b>, Y Combinator<\/b>, and others.<\/p>\n – Arato<\/b><\/a>, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based platform for evaluating AI systems, raised $10 million in seed funding. TLV<\/b> Partners<\/b> led the round and was joined by Jibe<\/b> Ventures<\/b> and others.<\/p>\n – Baz<\/b><\/a>, a Boston, Mass.-based AI code review company, raised $9 million in a seed extension. Battery<\/b> Ventures<\/b> and bolstart<\/b> ventures<\/b> led the round and were joined by AFG<\/b> Partners<\/b> and Disruptive<\/b> VC<\/b>.<\/p>\n – Nomerra<\/b><\/a>, a Berlin, Germany-based AI coworker designed for private markets operations, raised $2 million in funding. 14Peaks<\/b> Capital<\/b> led the round and was joined by Redstone<\/b> Fintech<\/b> and others.<\/p>\n PRIVATE EQUITY<\/p>\n – Bridgepoint<\/b> Group<\/b> agreed to acquire Kayne<\/b> Anderson<\/b> Real<\/b> Estate<\/b><\/a>, a Boca Raton, Fla.-based real estate investment firm, for approximately $1.4 billion.<\/p>\n – Align<\/b> Capital<\/b> Partners<\/b> acquired Lange<\/b> Technical<\/b> Services<\/b><\/a>, a Deer Park, N.Y.-based forensic automotive investigation company. Financial terms were not disclosed.<\/p>\n FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS<\/p>\n – Osney<\/b> Capital<\/b><\/a>, a London, U.K.-based venture capital firm, raised \u00a360 million ($79.5 million) for its first fund focused on seed-stage cybersecurity companies.<\/p>\n PEOPLE<\/p>\n
X:<\/strong> @agarfinks<\/a>
Email:<\/strong> alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com<\/a><\/p>\n