New Delhi, July 29 — The government-backed Electronics Development Fund (EDF) has channelled investments totalling Rs 1,335.77 crore into 128 startups and companies operating in Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) and Information Technology, according to an official statement issued on Wednesday.

Set up by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) as a Fund of Funds, the EDF had invested Rs 257.77 crore in eight SEBI-registered venture capital funds—referred to as “daughter funds”—as of 30 June. These daughter funds then deployed Rs 1,335.77 crore across the 128 enterprises.

Selection of investee companies was guided by criteria that included innovation capacity, indigenous technology development, potential for intellectual-property creation, technical strength of the founding team and scalability of the business model. Canbank Venture Capital Funds Ltd serves as fund manager, with MeitY as the anchor investor.

Of the 128 companies supported, 77 operate in the ESDM sector and 51 in IT. Karnataka attracted the largest share of investments, accounting for 90 companies, of which 89 are based in Bengaluru. Telangana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Delhi followed.

The daughter funds leveraged the EDF capital to raise nearly five times that amount from the market. Collectively, the supported startups have raised approximately Rs 22,553.82 crore. They have also created or acquired 373 intellectual-property assets, underscoring the programme’s emphasis on technology development.

The fund manager monitors the performance of the daughter funds, which in turn evaluate the operational efficiency, market growth and technology progress of their portfolio companies.

The EDF completed its investment phase in February 2024 and has since entered the divestment phase. The figures released on Wednesday therefore represent the cumulative outcome of the fund’s deployment period rather than new commitments.

Officials present the programme as a structured attempt to strengthen domestic capabilities in electronics and IT by combining public anchor capital with private venture funding and by prioritising intellectual-property generation alongside commercial scale.