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For Siddharth Kothari, investing was never just about capital—it was about consequence. At 34, the Managing Partner of Ahimsa VC is building India’s first venture fund dedicated exclusively to alternatives to animal-based food and materials, backing startups that aim to rewire one of the world’s most damaging industries.
Kothari’s journey began with a global education. After completing the IB Diploma at The British School in New Delhi, he went on to earn a Bachelor’s degree in Business Finance from Boston University in 2013. His early professional years were spent working within the family enterprise, the Om Kothari Group—an experience that quietly shaped his worldview. “Any good business solves a real problem,” he says. “Scratching an itch is not enough.”
That belief became central to his entrepreneurial thinking. As Kothari looked closely at global challenges, one stood out as both urgent and under-addressed: animal agriculture. “It’s one of the biggest and fastest-growing problems in the world,” he explains, pointing to the immense harm it causes to animals, human health, and the planet. The insight was sobering, but it also revealed opportunity. If technology could create scalable alternatives, it could unlock both positive impact and strong financial returns.
The pivotal moment came when Kothari realised that this shift was already underway. Startups across the globe were leveraging plant-based innovation, cellular agriculture, and fermentation technologies to build alternatives to animal-derived products—across food, dairy, leather, and materials. “There were finally enough founders using breakthrough technologies to challenge the status quo,” he says. That realisation led to the founding of Ahimsa VC in 2022.
Today, Ahimsa VC is the only fund in India investing exclusively in sustainable alternatives to animal-based products. Its differentiation lies not just in capital deployment, but in active partnership. Beyond funding, the team supports founders with ecosystem insight, industrial know-how, and access to a global network of experts. “Our value proposition is simple,” Kothari says. “We don’t just invest—we help companies build.”
That approach has attracted strong institutional and strategic co-investors, including Better Bite Ventures, Unovis Asset Management, House of Anita Dongre, Spectrum Impact, Avaana Capital, Ideaspring Capital, Sixth Sense Ventures, and Boston Consulting Group. With a team of 12 and four co-founders, the fund has steadily built a portfolio that reflects both technological depth and market readiness.
By 2025, those bets began to show tangible momentum. Portfolio companies such as GoodDot, India’s largest plant-based meat brand; Demolish Foods, which is developing breakthrough plant-protein whole cuts; and Phyx44, working on cell-derived dairy through precision fermentation, have demonstrated strong progress and successful uprounds. Others, like WhiteCub, Better Bet, Eori Leather, Vegan First, and Freshwoof, span categories from dairy alternatives and bio-based leather to plant-powered pet nutrition—together signalling the breadth of the emerging ecosystem.
Facts:
- Number of co-founders: 4
- Number of employees: 12
- Year of company inception: 2022
